The Hive
by cheri1
Summary: 10/Rose with Jack and Torchwood. A ship has crashed landed just outside of London carrying a deadly menace and when the Doctor and Rose investigate, the Doctor fights to save the Earth and his friends from the creatures. Slightly AU. FINISHED.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is kinda based on the giant wasps they're gonna have in season 4, I love the whole idea of giant wasp creatures so I thought I'd make up my own story with them.

Chapter One

_Icarus Twelve to Base. _

_Base here, go ahead Icarus. What is your status? _

_We're currently passing Sol 3 on our way to the Neptunian Detention Center. The cargo will be left there for transfer to Soltarius Detention Center. _

_Very good. Carry on and keep us informed of any changes in your status. _

_Will do. Icarus over and out. _

Commander Balthus pulled the headphones off his head and settled back in his chair. Just below him was the planet known as Sol 3 or Earth in the native tongue. He and his crew were delivering prisoners to the detention center on Neptune and then they would have nothing more to do with them. That made him so happy. These prisoners weren't the normal run of the mill convicts. Most of the time he and his crew were asked to transfer smugglers or murderers or pirates. But these things...they weren't your average prisoners and just that fact made him extremely nervous and anxious to get to Neptune.

He hit the intercom button.

"Jax, you back there?" he said into it.

"Oh yeah, where did you think I was? Popped out for a walk?" a young male voice answered back.

"I'd rather be out there than in here with those things."

"I hear ya. Creepy, they are. I'll be glad to drop them off and get away from them." Jax said.

"Are they secure?" Balthus asked nervously.

"I think so. Tiro is in there checking on them now so I'll ask him when he comes…"

There was a sudden silence. Balthus frowned.

"Jax, what is it?" he asked.

"I don't know, I thought I heard some…Peros, did you hear screaming, or am I going nuts?"

Balthus did a double take.

"Screaming?" he said as he felt the fear rising in him. "Are you sure it was screaming?"

"Hang on a minute, we're check---"

There was more silence and then suddenly he could hear Jax and Peros screaming and even more terrifying, loud buzzing.

The color drained from his face as Balthus leapt from his chair and ran for the cockpit door.

"I have to get to the escape pod!" he said to himself. "Have to warn everyone that they are loose!"

He hit the door button and it slid open. Then, Balthus screamed as he saw more of them outside the door. Panicked, he tried to close the door, but they were too fast for him and they managed to keep the door open with their bodies. Balthus ran to the other side of the room as they came after him. Then, he felt a sharp pain in his back and let out a scream as his body slammed into control panel. He hit the altitude control and the ship took a nosedive straight towards England. Balthus couldn't stop the descent. He now lay on the floor curled up in a ball, holding his stomach in agony as they swarmed above him watching him intently. He felt his insides begin to change as the ship plummeted towards the Earth.

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"Ugh, let's get this over with." The Doctor said as he and Rose stepped outside the TARDIS.

Rose hoisted her backpack onto her back. It was filled with another load of clothes for her mum to wash. She and the Doctor hurried across the courtyard to the apartment block.

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"Oh Rose, love, it's so good to see you again." Jackie said giving her a hug.

"You too, mum. I brought another load of laundry. I hope you don't mind." Rose said handing her the backpack.

"Oh, I don't mind at all. I'm just happy to have you home again safe and sound."

She looked at the Doctor.

"And it's a good thing you brought her home safe and sound, because otherwise I'd have to throttle you."

"And a big hello to you too, Jackie." The Doctor replied rolling his eyes.

"So, what's been going on, mum?" Rose asked.

Jackie stared at her.

"You mean you don't know?"

"Know what?" Rose said.

"It's been all over the news."

"Well, mum, the Doctor and I have been traveling. It's a little hard for us to keep up on what's happening in 2006." She replied.

"Well, come and see this then. A spaceship crashed just outside London yesterday."

Rose and the Doctor looked at each other and hurried into the living room. Jackie turned on the TV and both of them set down on the couch. There was footage of the downed spaceship and several police officers walking around it.

The ship, which is of unknown origin crashed yesterday morning outside the city limits, preliminary searches have found no signs of life aboard the damaged ship, but police are not ruling out the possibility that whoever piloted the ship has taken refuge within the city limits.

"It's a Sauron prison ship."

Rose and Jackie looked at the Doctor.

"Is that bad?" Rose asked.

"Depends. Usually Saurons are paid to transport criminals to Detention centers all across the galaxy. Saurons are strong and very skilled fighters so most of the criminals they get are the dangerous psychopathic ones."

"And one of their ships has just crashed outside London," Jackie said. "And they can't find anyone on board it which means right at this moment there's probably a bunch of insane alien criminals running around just looking for an opportunity to terrorize the public!"

"Not necessarily. They could have run the other way." The Doctor said.

He rubbed his ear.

"Although I suppose if they crashed next to a huge city like London, then that would be a more obvious hiding place than just running for the hills." He said.

"Great!" Jackie said throwing up her hands. "So now we got alien loonies on the loose in this city in addition to the everyday run of the mill human loonies."

"Mum, just calm down, it's not like they're gonna come knocking on your door." Rose said.

"Oh no? With him coming around here all the time?" Jackie said pointing to the Doctor. "The man is a trouble magnet. I'm sure whoever it is has already guessed he's here and is coming here this very minute."

"Oi, I am not a trouble magnet!" the Doctor said.

He paused.

"Well, most of the time I'm not." He said under his breath.

"So, what are you gonna do about it?" Jackie demanded.

The Doctor stared at her.

"Me?"

"Yes, you! You are the one who deals with these kinds of things, aren't ya? So, get out there and fix this before we all end up dead!"

The Doctor stared at her in shock.

"I just sat down, Jackie. Can I at least rest myself for two seconds before I go out looking for the alien loonies as you so eloquently put it?"

"Yes, I just want you to do something before the city gets blasted into atoms or something." She said. "It's your job to look after all of us since you're the one that draws these weirdoes to our planet."

The Doctor's mouth dropped open.

"I do not draw weirdoes to this planet!" he said indignantly.

Rose put her hand on his arm.

"I wouldn't argue if I were you. She won't listen."

"But I don't do that, Rose, the weirdoes come here on their own." He protested. "I am not a trouble magnet. If anyone's a trouble magnet…"

He finished up by jabbing his finger at Jackie's back. Rose nodded.

"I know, but mum's right, we really should investigate, don't you think? Just in case there was something dangerous on board?"

"Yes, I had every intention of doing that once I heard the news report, but I do not appreciate your mum implying that I need to get off my ass and do it two seconds after I get in the door. It makes me wonder how long she's been sitting there just waiting for me to walk in the door so she can scream at me to go out there and fix things."

"You did say on the Sycorax ship that the Earth was defended."

"Yes…but even the defender of the Earth would like to sit down for ten seconds on occasion and have a nice cup of tea before he goes out and risks his neck. I'm not a bloody robot."

Rose squeezed his hand.

"I'm sure mum means well, she's just scared." She said softly.

"Well, I can understand that, but I'm not her alien pit bull that she can just sic on the scary alien monsters whenever she wants to. I do have feelings too."

Rose nodded and leaned her head on his shoulder. At that moment, Jackie came around the corner, stopped and stared at him.

"You still here? I thought you would have been gone by now!"

"Mum, give him a break, will ya? He wants to rest!" Rose said angrily.

"No, it's alright, I'm rested. I'll go and take a look at this ship before half of London goes up in flames and she blames me because I didn't move fast enough." The Doctor said rising to his feet.

Rose sighed and shot a look at her mum as the Doctor stomped towards the door. She walked over towards her.

"Can't you give the poor guy a break?" she hissed at her.

"Rose, I don't want aliens out there killing any more people. If he's here then he needs to take a look at it!"

Rose looked back at the Doctor who was standing by the door waiting for her. She looked back at Jackie and leaned in close.

"Mum, we just got back from London, 1953, where this thing called the Wire was stealing people's essences and taking their faces with it. She got me and the Doctor is upset because he had to see me without a face and it freaked him out. Then, he saw me trapped in the telly and it freaked him out more. He wanted to come home for a break so he could recover and you start ordering him around."

"Oh, God, Rose" Jackie said hugging her tightly. "I'm so glad you're alright! Well, I mean I had no idea that happened to you. I'm sorry I was so harsh with him, it's just that ever since you met the man we've had nothing but trouble and I want him to find out what's going on and stop it before something happens to me or you."

"I understand that, mum, but go easy on him, will ya? He has a rough life as it is without people getting on his case."

"Rose?"

Rose looked back at the Doctor.

"You coming?"

Rose nodded. She hugged Jackie.

"Be careful." She said to her.

"I will."

She let go and walked towards the Doctor. The Doctor opened the door and started to go out.

"Doctor?"

The Doctor sighed and looked back at Jackie. Jackie smiled at him.

"You be careful too." She said.

The Doctor smiled and nodded. He took Rose's hand and the two of them walked outside and shut the door behind them.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Rose and the Doctor stepped outside the TARDIS and looked around. After they left the Powell Estate, they decided to use the TARDIS to travel to the crash site. They could see the spaceship in the distance and the Doctor closed the door behind him. He reached into his inside jacket pocket and pulled out his psychic paper.

"We're gonna try to sneak past the police, but if we can't, I want this ready." He said putting it in his trench coat pocket. "Just act like we belong there, just like we always do."

Rose nodded. She waited until the Doctor moved before following him.

Luckily, as they neared the crash site, they noticed that the police officers had gone around the back and both of them were able to sneak up the ramp and go into the ship without being noticed.

"Okay," the Doctor said to Rose once they were inside. "Just stay close to me and keep to the shadows just in case one of the officers comes up in here."

Rose nodded. She took the Doctor's hand and walked beside them as they searched for clues. They went up to the cockpit first.

"Be careful standing around the window in case someone looks inside," he said to Rose.

"Yes, Doctor."

She examined the controls with the Doctor although she didn't have the faintest clue what any of them did. She looked over when the Doctor flipped a switch and a little hologram appeared near the top of the control panel. She walked over and stood beside him. It was a man. He appeared to be in his late twenties and had a crew cut and an angular face. She listened as he talked.

Commander's log: Sauron time 46.24.90: We are on route to the Neptunian Detention Center with the prisoners. We have just entered the Milky Way galaxy and hope to reach destination within one Sauronian week. There are twenty prisoners on board, seventeen workers, two drones and the queen. All have been put in maximum security, hopefully that will be enough to hold them until we reach the detention center.

The man looked over his shoulder and looked back at the camera.

Off the record, I will be glad to get rid of these things. Having them on board creeps me out and I regret ever taking this job. Just the fact that they might get loose and infect the crew makes me want to go back there and eradicate them with my laser blaster. These creatures should be shot on sight and their kind eradicated from the universe before they do any more damage.

Rose looked at the Doctor.

"Do you know what he's talking about?" she asked.

"Not right now, there are several possibilities, but unless he gives a better description or says their name I can't be sure."

He pressed a button and fast-forwarded the hologram.

"I'll go to the last entry and see what it says." The Doctor said glancing at Rose.

He held the button down for a minute and then he let go. The hologram reverted back to normal speed and Rose could see the man was now flustered.

Commander's log: Sauron time 46.28.90: We just had a close call. One of them almost escaped and nearly got my second-in-command, Jax. It was only by sheer luck that we managed to get the thing back in the cell and close the door before it stung him. We were damn lucky this time, but how long will our luck hold out? I am so glad we are almost to the detention center because I don't know how much longer the cell will hold them.

The hologram froze and the Doctor switched it off. Rose looked at him and could see he was deep in thought.

"Stung?" he murmured. "There are many species that can sting someone fatally so that really doesn't narrow it down completely, but at least we know what we're up against."

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"So…there are workers, drones and a queen and they can sting…"

"Bees?" Rose said.

The Doctor nodded. He began to pace around as he thought.

"Or something along those lines. So…if they are bees or something similar, then they will need a hive of some sort."

He looked at Rose.

"Course what better place to build a hive than good old London. Lots of buildings for them to nest in."

"Which narrows our search to the entire city of London then."

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Great." Rose muttered.

"Or, they could have gone out into the countryside and built a hive there, so really we have to include that in our search too."

"This is gonna take awhile then." Rose said sighing.

"Not necessarily. See, we are not talking bout your normal run of the mill insects here. I'm guessing the creatures are human sized, if not bigger."

"Great, gets better with each passing minute." Rose muttered.

"But, think of it, Rose. If they are that big, people are gonna notice them eventually." The Doctor said taking her by the arms. "So, it'll be a lot easier for us to find them. All we have to do is follow the terrified screams and boom; bugs are located, easy peasy lemon squeezy!"

"Wheee…I can't wait," Rose said. "Especially when the big, monstrous bee things start chasing after us with their big enormous stingers."

"You like that part too?" the Doctor said with glee.

He grinned when Rose swatted his arm.

She watched as he studied the other buttons.

"Doctor?"

"Hmmm?" he said fingering a purple button

"That guy said they were afraid of being infected. Infected by what?"

The Doctor turned and leaned against the control panel. He scratched his chin.

"The ones that I know of that do sting to kill like the Zygons do not infect as much as poison. They sting and fill their victims with poison and that's how they kill them, but what this bloke was talking about seemed to be more along the lines of sickness and I'm not quite sure about that."

"You don't know any bee things like he's describing?"

"No, nothing like that. I know of other huge insects like the Zarbi and the Menoptra, but those are more along the lines of ants and butterflies, not bees. What we're dealing with here might be something entirely new or it's from a planet I'm not aware of. But if it infects people then that's a problem that needs to be taken care of and fast."

He looked out the window and noticed a couple of police officers coming around the corner.

"Come on," he said taking Rose's hand. "Let's go look at the holding cells."

Rose nodded and walked with him out of the cockpit.

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Rose looked at the heavy, black, iron doors that separated the narrow, cramped, prisoner's cells from the rest of the ship. Inside she could see a small slab built into the wall that served as the bed and a hole in the corner that she assumed was a toilet. There was also a small sink and mirror on the opposite side of the bed. It was extremely claustrophobic and she was glad she had not been imprisoned in it. She looked over at the Doctor who was examining the one beside it.

"I don't see any evidence of the cell doors being damaged," He said looking at her. "Which means that whatever was in these cells escaped when the doors were opened."

"But, if they were that concerned about being infected, why open them?" Rose asked.

She pointed to a tiny, locked door in the middle of the cell door.

"I mean, this is to pass food to them, yeah?" she asked.

The Doctor nodded.

"And they have a sink and toilet and a bed so they wouldn't need to open the door," Rose said. "So why d'ya think they did?"

"Not sure," the Doctor said. "Maybe they were trying to keep these creatures sedated or…"

He thought a moment.

"Perhaps they were coerced into opening the door."

"By who?"

The Doctor looked at her.

"By the creatures."

"Mind control?"

"Oh yes, I wouldn't rule out that possibility. Course we'll have to find one and study it before we can be sure, but that would be a more plausible explanation than opening the door to sedate them. There are many ways to sedate prisoners without entering a cell."

"So these things escaped and overtook the crew," Rose said. "Then they killed them, yeah? Except, where are the bodies?"

"Dunno, they could have been carried off by the creatures for food or to lay their eggs in. Or they could have survived and went off the ship to find the creatures. Although…I'm seriously doubting that one. But, at least now we have some idea what to look for now thanks to the log and---"

"What the bloody hell are you doing here?"

The Doctor and Rose spun around and saw a police officer standing behind them.

"Oh, hello, have the tours started yet?" the Doctor said to him.

"The what?"

"The tours of the spaceship. My girl and I are big sci-fi fanatics and when we heard the spaceship crashed, we just had to come out and see for ourselves, right, love?"

"Oh yeah, we're just massive Star Wars nerds, have been for years!" Rose added.

"This ship is off limits to civilians!" the police officer barked.

"Oh, is it? Oh, I'm so sorry, we seemed to have jumped the gun. You know, we just have no life. We both live in my mum's basement and we spend all day watching Star Wars and Star Trek and argue all the finer plot points. Sorry to trouble you. Just let everyone know if you find E.T., will ya? I want to see that!"

"Yeah, me too!" Rose added.

"OUT!" the police officer said jabbing his finger at the door.

The Doctor saluted him and grabbed Rose's hand.

"Live long and prosper, mate!" he said as they walked past.

The police officer watched them go before he turned and headed off the ship himself.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Jeremy Spencer kissed his girlfriend goodbye as he left her flat. They had just spent the day together taking in a movie and going out to eat. They had a fabulous time and Jeremy was in high spirits as he walked home.

As he walked, he reached into his pocket, pulled out his IPod and put in the earphones. He stopped a moment, found the song he was looking for and put the IPod back in his pocket. He started to sing softly and resumed walking.

As he listened to his music, he was unaware that he was being spied on from above. He was completely lost in the moment, walking in time to the beat of the song. He turned a corner and sang loudly when he noticed that there was no one around him.

He continued to sing, feeling his spirits lift even more and the thought occurred to him that life couldn't get any better than this.

As he walked along, he suddenly became aware of a buzzing noise mixing in with the music. He reached into his pocket and looked at his IPod wondering if it was malfunctioning. He grumbled to himself about how expensive it would be to replace it as he stopped to take a closer look at it. He shut it off and took the earphones out. His eyes widened when the buzzing continued. In fact, it was louder now. And now, it sounded like it was directly behind him. Slowly he turned around and he froze when he saw what was there. His mouth dropped open in a silent scream and he dropped the IPod on the ground as he turned and ran for his life. He ran as fast as he could while the creature pursued him relentlessly. Finally, he found his voice again and he screamed at the top of his lungs. Up ahead, he could see people pointing and screaming and scrambling to get out of the way.

"SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME!" he screamed at them.

He ran down the pavement, his heartbeat pounding in his ears along with the loud buzzing. He turned a corner and he let out a joyful yell when he saw a policeman up ahead of him.

"HELP ME, PLEASE!" he yelled to him.

The officer froze for a moment hardly daring to believe his eyes. Then, he found the strength to move and he pulled out his taser gun as he ran towards Jeremy.

Jeremy put on a fresh burst of speed trying to reach the officer. Suddenly, he felt something stab him in the back and a warm liquid being shot into his body. He screamed and felt to the ground. The officer raised his taser and fired at the creature. To his horror, the probes bounced harmlessly off its body. The creature seemed confused and hovered over the injured Jeremy for a moment almost as if it were debating what to do.

"GET AWAY FROM HERE!" the officer screamed waving his arms at it.

The creature stared at the officer with its huge black eyes and for a moment it looked like it was going to attack him, but as more people got the courage to confront it and starting yelling and screaming along with the officer, it finally flew off leaving Jeremy face down on the pavement, unconscious. The officer knelt beside him and radioed for an ambulance as the crowd watched the creature fly away into the afternoon sky.

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"Vital signs holding steady for the moment." A nurse said as she and several others wheeled a gurney through the emergency room doors.

On the gurney, Jeremy lay unconscious on his stomach. They wheeled him into an examination room and transferred him to a bed. As a nurse wheeled the gurney out, they pulled open the hospital gown to take a look at the wound in the middle of his back. It was a huge puncture wound and they began to clean it while they hooked him up to various monitors. They looked over when one of the doctors entered.

"What do we have?" he asked a nurse.

"Stab wound. Patient is unconscious, but his vitals are holding steady at the moment." She said.

The Doctor put his fingers near the wound and leaned in.

"Any idea what caused this?" he asked the nurse.

The nurse looked at her colleagues.

"Um, the officer who radioed for the ambulance said it looked like a gigantic wasp." She said.

The doctor looked at her.

"Giant wasp?" he said in disbelief.

"Yes, he said the boy got stung by it."

She handed him the chart containing what little information they had managed to get so far. The doctor glanced through it and looked at the wound.

"Have you treated him for anaphylactic shock?" he said glancing at the nurse.

She shook her head.

"He hasn't exhibited any signs of allergic reaction so far."

The doctor nodded.

"Good, then let's get him stabilized and monitor him just in case something does happen."

"Yes, doctor."

The doctor shook his head while the nurses began to work on him.

"What the hell is happening lately?" he muttered. "Past few years it seems like all hell is breaking loose in the city! What's next, gigantic spiders from space?"

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After a couple of hours, the doctor and nurses were able to get Jeremy stabilized enough to be able to move him upstairs to a room. He had still not regained consciousness and the nurse on duty had been advised to check on him and take vital signs ever thirty minutes until he woke up.

The nurse finished part of her rounds and came back into the room to check on him. She began to take vital signs while looking at her watch. As she did, she was aware that his pulse was extremely irregular and his breathing seemed labored. She put on her stethoscope and listened to his heart. Her eyes widened in alarm when she heard his heart racing like mad. She leaned up and ran to the door. Leaning out it, she found a nurse's aide doing her rounds.

"Go get Betty!" she said to her. "I think this guy's having a heart attack!"

The aide ran down the hall towards the nurse's station as the nurse ran back to Jeremy's bedside. By this time, his breathing was ragged and when she took his pulse again, it was twice the normal rate. The nurse fought to remain calm as she looked at his face and saw it contorted with pain. She looked back at the door.

"Dammit, where is Betty? I need her!" she said to herself.

She turned her head back around and gasped when she saw that Jeremy's eyes were open. Except that now there were no irises, pupils or whites, they were completely black. Her mouth gaped open as Jeremy sat up in bed and stared at her with his coal black eyes. She swallowed hard.

"Mis…Mister Spencer?" she said hesitantly.

"No. Mizzzzter Szzzzzzpencer izzzzzzz no more." He said with a slight buzz in his voice. "I am becoming Szzzzzwarm!"

He hopped out of bed just as Betty ran in the room. She gasped when she saw his eyes.

"What the bloody hell is going on?" she screamed.

The other nurse shook her head and backed up with her.

"Mister Spencer, please get back in your bed. Whatever is happening, please let us help you!"

"I do not need help. There izzzzz nothing wrong with me. I am fine. I am almost one with the otherzzzzzzzz!" Jeremy declared.

Suddenly, both the nurse and Betty were shoved to the floor as Jeremy pushed past them.

"Muszzzt return to the hive!" he yelled as he ran down the hall. "Muszzzzt rejoin the otherzzzzzzzz! Muszzzzt become one with them!"

A security guard jumped in front of him, but Jeremy picked him up and flung him against the wall. He smacked into it and slumped to the ground unconscious. As he ran down the hall, patients and aides ran into the rooms trying to get out of his way.

Suddenly, he let out a human sounding scream and dropped to his knees in agony. Everyone slowly walked towards him as he bent over screaming. The people behind him stopped and stared in horror at him. he was holding his stomach and screaming in pain and terror. Then, he gave out one last agonized scream and fell onto the floor unconcious. he lay motionless while all around him the hospital was plunged into a deathly silence.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

"Bloody Torchwood, what did we have to call them?"

The police officer looked at his companion standing beside him as they stood outside the hospital doors waiting for them to arrive. His friend shrugged.

"Well you know, Pat, if they want to take that thing away with them, who am I to argue?" He said. "Just as long as they take it off our hands."

"I wonder what it is though," Pat said. "I've never seen anything like it before. And Rich said that a huge wasp stung the poor bugger. You don't think those things came from that downed spaceship, do you?"

His friend shrugged.

"After everything that's happened the past couple of years, I wouldn't doubt it."

They looked over as a black SUV pulled out and two men and two women got out. A man wearing a long, blue coat stepped up to them.

"Torchwood. I'm Captain Jack Harkness." He said as the other members fell in behind him. "You have something for us?"

The officers looked at each other.

"This way, follow me." Pat said.

He looked back at them as they followed him down the hall towards the elevator.

"How did you get here so fast? I thought you guys were based in Cardiff?" he asked.

"We are, but we were finishing up an investigation in London when our receptionist let us know that you had called." Jack said.

Pat nodded.

"Well, we figured if anyone would want to take a look at this guy, it would be you lot." He said. "Frankly, I think you guys are the only ones who are qualified to handle him now."

The team looked at each other. They walked up to the elevator, got in, and went up to the second floor.

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Pat paused outside the door to Jeremy's room and looked at Jack.

"They managed to sedate him, but he's been changing since he got here and it gets worse with each passing minute."

"Changing? Into what?" Jack asked.

"See for yourself."

Pat stepped aside and let Torchwood through. They walked over to the bed on the far side of the room and stopped short when they saw who was in it. The man was tied to the bed frame with leather restraints around his wrists and ankles. He was heavily sedated and was moving slowly in an attempt to escape. The team stared down at him. He was still humanoid in shape, but his eyes were jet black, there was antenna sprouting out of his forehead, a pair of wings sticking out of his back and most of his body was covered with a thick, yellow and black, exoskeleton.

"God," Jack murmured as he bent over to examine the exoskeleton.

He felt it and then tapped his fingers against it. He looked back at Pat.

"How did this happen?" he asked him.

"Wasp stung him."

The team looked at him.

"A wasp did this?" Tosh said.

"Yes, but it wasn't a normal wasp. This thing was human sized." Pat explained. "It stung him in the back and when he was brought in, he began changing into that thing."

"What's his name?" Jack asked.

"Jeremy Spencer."

Jack looked at Jeremy.

"Jeremy, my name is Jack Harkness. I'm here to help you. Can you please tell me what happened to you?"

"Jeremy izzzz no more. I am Szzzwarm." He slurred.

"Swarm?" Jack muttered.

He looked at Owen.

"Let's get him back to the hub and do an examination on him. Pat, can you bring a nurse in here and have her sedate him so he's completely unconscious? It's gonna be a long drive back to Cardiff and I don't think we want Jeremy waking up in the car on the way there.

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Jackie looked over when the front door opened and the Doctor and Rose walked in.

"Did you find the aliens?" she asked coming into the living room.

"No, we found nothing on the ship," The Doctor said sitting down on the couch. "Whatever was in there is long gone."

"Well, you just relax and I'll fix you a nice cup of tea." Jackie replied.

The Doctor looked back at her. He looked at Rose who was passing through on her way to the bathroom.

"Hey!"

Rose stopped and leaned down to him.

"She's a lot nicer than she was this morning," he said. "You notice that?"

"That's because I got on her and told her about you being upset after I lost my face," Rose replied. "I think she feels guilty that she jumped on you as soon as you came in the door."

The Doctor nodded.

"Well, good, I'd rather not have her up in my face like that when I come back here." He said.

Rose patted him on the shoulder and walked on towards the bathroom. A few minutes later, Jackie leaned over the couch and gave him a cup of tea.

"Thank you," the Doctor said gratefully.

"Well, I figured you were thirsty after going out there this morning." She said sitting in the chair beside him. "And I really am sorry about what I said. I had no idea what had happened to Rose and I was just worried about being attacked again. You aren't here all the time, you know."

"Yes, everyone keeps reminding me of that." He said. "And I understand your fear, I really do, but there really wasn't much risk of an alien attack here. You have a better chance of dying from a plane falling into this flat than you do being killed by aliens. In fact, you're probably a lot safer when I'm not here."

"Well, I am glad you came. I do feel safer when you're around."

The Doctor smiled at that.

"Whatever it is, Jackie, Rose and I will take care of it." He assured her.

Jackie smiled and stood up. He squeezed his shoulder and went back to the kitchen to make Rose a cup of tea. The Doctor leaned forward, picked up the remote, and turned on the TV. He found the news channel and sipped his tea while he listened to the latest report.

Police have searched the city, but so far, no trace has been found of the giant wasp that attacked a young man earlier.

The Doctor gagged on his tea. He put the cup down on the table and turned up the volume on the remote.

The young man, identified as Jeremy Spencer, has been taken to St. George's hospital. He is reported in stable condition and is under observation. Police have refused to release any more information at the moment...

The Doctor looked back at Jackie.

"Jackie, you know about this?" he said to her.

"Know about what?"

"Giant wasp attacking someone."

"No, I went out to the shops to pick up something for supper. I just got back. Oh my God, a giant wasp attacked someone?" she said rushing to the couch.

In other news, firefighters rushed to the scene of a burning building in…

"It's off now." The Doctor said.

"What did they say?" Jackie said looking at him.

"Well, from what I caught of it, a giant wasp attacked a man and they took him to St. George's for treatment and observation."

"You don't think that's what was in the spaceship, do ya?"

"Um…unless the wasps in Britain have had a tremendous growth spurt this year, then my guess would be yes." He replied.

"Oh great, just what we need." Jackie said leaning back up.

"Need what, mum?" Rose said coming around the corner.

"Wasp. A giant wasp is terrorizing London now." Jackie said to her.

Rose looked at the Doctor.

"Giant wasp?" she said sitting down beside him.

"Yup, I think we've finally found out what was in the downed spaceship. There was an attack by a huge wasp on some guy and they sent him to hospital."

"Oh God," Rose said.

She thought for a moment.

"You think that's what got the crew then?"

"Probably. It carried them off for food most likely."

"But, that hologram guy mentioned being afraid of infection." Rose said. "Was he talking about the wasp then or something else?"

The Doctor leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling as he thought.

"You've heard of the West Nile Virus, haven't you?" he said looking at Rose.

"Yeah, mosquitoes carry it."

The Doctor nodded.

"So, you're thinking this wasp might do the same thing?" Rose said.

"Yes, but if it's that big, then the infection would be much more deadly and devastating. Now, it could mean something else, but that's what I'm thinking it is."

"So, this man could be a plague carrier then?"

The Doctor nodded.

"Yes, which means we need to go down there and check him out. If this wasp is from outer space, it's probably carrying a disease that would be unknown to people here on Earth. I think we should get over to St. Georges as soon as we can before an epidemic happens."

He stood up.

"And the sooner we get over there, the better. I want to see what we're up against before he gets moved somewhere or dies."

Rose nodded. She stood up and looked over at Jackie.

"We'll be back as soon as we can, mum." She said.

"Just be careful. I don't want either of you coming home infected."

"We won't. The Doctor and I know what we're doing." Rose replied.

"Well, most of the time." The Doctor whispered in her ear.

He took her hand.

"Come along, my fearless companion. We have a plague to prevent and a wasp to wipe out." He said as the two of them walked towards the front door.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Jack glanced nervously in the rearview mirror as he drove the SUV on the M4 towards Cardiff. They were about halfway there and he kept expecting Jeremy to wake up at any minute. They had managed to get him sedated enough so that he was immobile amd wasn't a threat to them. Even so, the metamorphisis was still taking place. Jack could see that smaller legs were starting to sprout from his sides now. He felt sick to his stomach staring at him. the man was young, only about twenty from his estimation, and it saddened him to think that he was being changed into this creature when he obviously had his whole life ahead of him. Seeing him made him determined to track down the wasp that did it to him. If one sting made this poor man change, then he shuddered to think how many others might be mutated before they could stop it.

He pulled his mobile out of his pocket and called the Hub.

"Ianto, hey, we're on our way back. We have a passenger with us. We need you to prepare a cell for him."

He paused and glanced back at Jeremy.

"Um…well, it's a young man and he's turning into a giant wasp." He said.

He paused.

"Yeah, Owen is gonna examine him, but we will definitely need to keep him isolated from everyone. Another giant wasp stung him and he's changing because of it. If he grows a stinger and stings us, we'll end up the same way. We're about an hour away, so just make sure the cell is ready for us."

He paused.

"Okay, see you when we get there. Bye."

He closed his mobile and put it away. He glanced back at Owen and Tosh who were sitting on either side of Jeremy.

"How's he doing?" he asked them.

"He's still out," Tosh said looking at him. "Not sure for how long though."

"Well, if he does show signs of waking up, we have some sedative in the glove compartment we can give him." Jack replied, glancing in the rearview mirror at her. "Ianto said he's going to get a cell ready for us."

"Good, because I'm extremely nervous sitting next to a bloody great wasp." Owen said to him.

"Well, as soon as we get him examined, we'll have to come back and search for the wasp that did it. Otherwise, we could have a whole bunch of these things rampaging through London in a very short time." Jack replied.

"Do you think that there is more than one?" Gwen asked.

Jack looked over at her.

"I'm not sure. I hope not. If they are human sized they'll be a handful." He said to her.

Everyone fell silent and Jack concentrated on the road. Owen took the opportunity to do a small examination to combat the boredom he was feeling. Jeremy was still in his hospital gown which made it easier to look at his body. Tosh saw what he was doing and did the same on her side. She took hold of one of the tiny legs growing from his side and examined it.

"This leg has grown since we looked at it last." She said to Owen.

"Yeah, so have the legs on this side. I think the change is speeding up." He replied.

Gwen looked around the seat and watched them. She reached out and touched one of the legs. It was hard and smooth to the touch. She looked at his regular arms and noticed they were turning black as well. She shook her head.

"When he's done, I guess he'll completely change into a wasp. No more humanity left in him?"

Owen gave her a grim look.

"That's where it's heading." He said to her. "Poor bugger will just be one huge insect."

Jack looked in the rearview mirror at Jeremy. He thought for a moment, then pulled out the mobile and dialed the Hub.

"Ianto, me again." He said. "Listen, have you been watching the news?"

He paused.

"Okay, have they said anything about any other wasp attacks?"

He paused. His brow furrowed.

"When was this?" he said.

His mouth dropped open.

"Since yesterday?"

Gwen looked at him and mouthed "What?" Jack glanced at her and held up his finger.

"No, they never said anything about any downed spaceship to us."

Now everyone was looking at him.

"Well, we've been busy. We went right from investigating that alien sighting to St. George without any break in between. We didn't have time to stop and catch the news and no one at the hospital mentioned it. Which seems pretty weird considering it's not every day a human sized wasp is seen in the middle of London. If there was a crashed spaceship right outside the city, then the wasp makes a lot more sense now."

He sighed.

"Listen, can you get a hold of the authorities and get us authorization to visit the crash site then? If these two things are connected, then it's important we check out that ship as quickly as possible!"

He nodded.

"Good, just explain to them that it's important we see it before anything else happens and we have to go out and kill a hive filled with these things."

He smiled.

"Thanks Ianto. We're nearly there so let us know what they say when we get to the Hub. See you then, bye."

He hung up and put the mobile back in his pocket.

"Yesterday, a spaceship crashed right outside of London," he told the others. "It's been all over the news and the police have already been over to investigate. I guess it never occurred to the people at the hospital that the wasp might come from there. Anyway, Ianto is going to get us in to take a look at it."

"If they'll let us in." Owen said.

"Oh, I'm sure they will. Ianto will just turn on his usual charm and sweet talk them into letting us inside the spaceship." Jack replied. "They really don't have a choice anyway. They chose to involve us in this when they called, so they might as well let us have full access to everything. Besides, I think they'd rather let us handle it anyway. You know how the police are when it comes to things like this."

The team grumbled in agreement. Jack laughed.

"Hey, don't knock it, it keeps us in business." He said to them. "Better us than the guys over at Canary Wharf."

"I think the guys over at Canary Wharf are too busy playing mad scientist to come out into the field anyway." Owen said. "I have to say I don't trust that lot. They're too secretive and they creep me out."

"Same here, which is why we don't associate with them anymore, apart from Ianto keeping in contact with Lisa." Jack said. "My feeling is, as long as they keep their nose out of our business, we'll stay out of theirs."

"I don't know, somehow I have a feeling the whole staying out of their business will come back to bite us on the ass one day." Owen muttered.

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"Ianto, is the cell ready?" Jack said as he and the others came in the Hub carrying Jeremy.

"Yes, everything's ready." He replied.

"Great! Thanks!" Jack said as they went past.

Ianto followed them and stared at Jeremy.

"My God," he said, looking at him.

"Yeah, he's actually gotten worse during the two hour drive." Jack said glancing at him. "We lifted him out and he's starting to grow a stinger out of his tailbone. It grew enough that it actually punctured the seat."

"And trust me; he didn't have it when we sat him in the car." Owen said.

Ianto shook his head. He ran ahead of them so he could open the cell door. He hurried to the cellblock. Ignoring the Weevil who was snarling at him from his prison, he went to the cell at the end of the corridor and opened the door. Then his head jerked around when he heard Jack screaming.

"Shit, he's waking up! Run, guys!"

Ianto heard them running through the Hub yelling at each other. He flattened himself up against the back wall as the team sprinted towards the cell carrying the drowsy wasp man in their arms. They ran into the cell, dropped him to the floor and ran back out. When the last person was out, Ianto slammed the door shut and locked it. Jack and the others leaned back against the cell on the other side, gasping, as Jeremy shook his head and looked around the cell in confusion. Ianto walked over and stood beside them watching while Jeremy got to his feet and walked to the plastic wall separating him from them. He stared at them with huge, black eyes and his antennae moved on his forehead feeling the plastic in front of him. He paused and focused his gaze on Jack.

"Let me go." He demanded.

"Nope, sorry." Jack replied.

"Szzzet me free. I muszzzt return to the hive!"

Jack felt his blood run cold as his worst fears were confirmed.

"Where is this hive? How many wasps are there?" he asked stepping forward.

"There are many of uzzz. We are one! We are Szzzwarm! Szzzet me free!"

"Let me talk to Jeremy. Jeremy, can you still hear me?" Jack said.

"Jeremy Szzzpenzzzer izzz no more. We are Szzzwarm!"

"We?" Gwen said, looking at Jack.

He thought for a moment.

"He must be part of a collective consciousness. A hive mind. No individual thought. Jeremy no longer can think for himself. Something is controlling him and the other wasps now, telling them what to do."

He looked at Jeremy.

"Isn't that right, Swarm? That is what you call each other then?"

"We are all Szzzarm." He said nodding. "We think the szzzame."

"Who tells you how to think? Who is in charge?"

"Our queen."

"Oh lovely," Jack said sighing. "They have a queen. This just keeps getting better by the minute."

He looked at the others.

"I guess we have just enough time to use the bathroom and freshen up and then we head back to London. I just hope we aren't too late."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

"Just stay beside me and let me do the talking." The Doctor said as he and Rose approached the entrance of St. George.

They walked inside and went over to the desk. The receptionist looked at them.

"May I help you?" she asked.

"Yes," the Doctor said holding up the psychic paper. "I'm Detective Inspector John Smith; this is Detective Inspector Rose Tyler. We're here to see Jeremy Spencer."

"I'm sorry, but Mister Spencer is no longer here." She said to them.

The Doctor groaned softly.

"Who has him then?" he asked her.

"The police released him to Torchwood about two and a half hours ago." She replied.

The Doctor forced a smile onto his face.

"Thank you." He said politely.

He and Rose turned and walked back out of the building.

"Bollocks!" he said when they got out of earshot.

He ran his hand through his hair.

"Great, we were too late." He muttered.

He paused.

"Torchwood? Why does that name sound so familiar?" he said.

"That was the name of the estate we stayed at with Queen Victoria."

"Oh yes, that's right!" the Doctor said nodding.

He frowned.

"There's an organization named after that place?" he said.

Rose shrugged.

"Maybe it's a coincidence." She said.

"Or…maybe not. Remember, Vickie-girl was pretty peeved at us for upsetting her God fearing Christian world with our demon cavorting ways. And technically, we're not supposed to set foot in this country anymore. Who knows what the nutty old bat did after we left."

He shook his head.

"It doesn't matter. What does matter is because this Torchwood one-upped us we lost a valuable opportunity to find out what's going on and now we're back to square one."

He slammed his hand against the front of the hospital and cursed.

"Damn it, now I suppose we'll have to wait until another innocent victim gets stung before we can do anything else." He said.

Rose put his hand on his shoulder.

"Surely, as big as that wasp is, it won't be able to fly around without someone seeing it eventually." She said.

The Doctor looked at her.

"Yes, but the problem is London is a huge city, if it is spotted, we might be too far away to do something." He said sadly. "I just don't want someone else dying. We see enough death as it is."

Rose's heart ached for the Doctor. She could tell he was torn up inside. It always killed him when innocent people were hurt and killed, especially if they were human. It touched Rose that he was so protective of her kind, especially since she had heard many other aliens speak negatively about Earthlings. There was times when she wondered what the world would be like if the Doctor didn't care about humankind and it made her shudder imagining the fate that would have been in store for her and everyone else if the Daleks and others like them had taken over the world unopposed.

She squeezed his shoulder.

"Come on, Doctor, there's nothing we can do right now." She said gently.

The Doctor nodded.

"Yeah, you're right. Might as well go back to your mum's flat and plan our next strategy." He said.

He sighed deeply and took her hand. Rose gave it a squeeze and the Doctor smiled lovingly at her. He thanked Rassilon she was here. She had the power to lift his spirits and give him the support he needed when he felt like beating himself up and having a pity party. She had so much faith in him and that was all he needed to pick himself up and go on. The universe had truly blessed him the day he had met her in Henrik's Department Store. He squeezed her hand back and grinned when she snuggled up against him as they walked away and headed back towards the flat.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The queen wasp lay in the safety and security of her hive and looked out at her subjects as they went about their assigned tasks. Ever since they had escaped the confinement of the prison ship, they had managed to find a secret place where they could rebuild and prosper once more. The strange ones who had enslaved them had long since lost their identity and had become a part of her kingdom. Their old form was gone and now they were unrecognizable from her other subjects. She thought it fitting for them. The ones who had captured and tried to kill her and her people were now helping her hive flourish. Little by little, her kind was beginning to regroup and go out and find new subjects among the population of this strange planet.

There was just one thing that troubled her. One of her workers had created a new subject, but she could sense he was trapped somewhere and could not get back to the hive. She had called to him and he had called back saying that the strange creatures of this planet had imprisoned him far away from her. It angered her that lesser species should hold one of her subjects captive and she knew she had to act before they killed him. So she reached out to the minds of two of her workers and called them into her presence. They obeyed without question and hovered above her buzzing excitedly, knowing that they were being chosen by their queen for a very special task. The queen thought to them ordering them to find their captive brother. She gave them the general direction of his location knowing that eventually they would be able to pick up his mind when they grew close enough to him. The wasps buzzed in reply declaring their undying obedience to their queen and the hive and then they flew off to fulfill her commands. The queen settled back onto the bed that served as the throne content in the knowledge that soon her subject would be restored to his rightful place in the hive.

In the meantime, she had sent a few more workers out to find more subjects and she was confident that soon the hive would grow enough that they could take over the area and then the country and then they would spread over this strange, new world and the planet would be theirs forever.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"See you later, Julie." Monica said to her friend as she left the restaurant where she worked.

As she walked along the pavement, Julie reached into her purse and pulled out her keys. She disabled her car alarm and hurried to her car sitting several feet away. It had been a long day, she was tired, and her feet were aching. She was looking forward to going home, taking a nice hot shower, getting a hot meal, and resting for the night.

She walked past an alley and stopped when she heard a strange buzzing sound coming from it. She slowly looked over and her eyes widened when she saw a huge wasp hovering in the alley staring at her with its coal black eyes. She screamed and ran for her life as the wasp flew out of the alley and chased her. Startled and panicked bystanders leapt out of the way while Monica pleaded with them for help. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw someone lunging at her trying to knock her out of the way. Too terrified to slow down, she instead put on a burst of speed and the man ended up falling to the ground behind her. He watched helplessly as the wasp flew past her and closed in on her.

Then, she screamed as she felt a sharp, stabbing pain in her back. She felt to the ground and wept in terror and pain as she heard the wasp hovering over her.

"Oh God, please help me!" she implored the people around her. "Please don't let it kill me!"

As the wasp slowly lowered itself to pick up her body, some people found the strength to move. They picked up anything they could find to throw and hurled it at the wasp trying to get it to leave. The wasp buzzed angrily and tried to attack them. Monica's defenders staggered back, threw rubbish at the wasp while a couple of people ran up behind it, and pulled Monica to safety. The wasp tried to sting them while they ducked behind cars and into alleys. By this time, a couple of officers had reached the scene. One picked up Monica and ran with her towards his police car. The other officer pulled out his truncheon and tried to get around the wasp towards its head. But the wasp sensing the danger flew up higher. As the crowd watched, it looked at the spot where Monica had been and seeing that she was gone flew off into the sky. The crowd talked amongst themselves while the officer pulled out his two-way radio and radioed headquarters telling them the situation and asking for help to track the wasp down. Once he had finished his conversation, he quickly hurried to his squad car determined to find the wasp before it hurt someone else.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Jack sighed softly as he stood outside Jeremy Spencer's cell and stared at him. He had now lost all traces of humanity. All that was left was a gigantic wasp. A gigantic wasp that was extremely agitated. It had been trying for an hour to break out of the cell and had been hitting his body repeatedly against the plastic. Owen had recommended sedating him to prevent him from hurting himself, but Jack had a feeling that wasn't necessary. He could see that Jeremy's exoskeleton was rock hard and he was sure he wasn't even feeling the impact. He had spent the past half hour looking up facts about wasps on the internet and from what he could determine; the species of wasp Jeremy most resembled was the Yellow Jacket. The sites he looked at said that only the female wasps had stingers so that was one big difference between this species of wasps and Earth specimens.

He also found out that reproduction took place between males and the queen. But, he wasn't sure if this was the case with this species since it seemed they reproduced by stinging others. On the other hand, they could reproduce both ways and that scared Jack even more. If they could make wasps both by fertilization and mutation then they could overrun the Earth in no time.

There was one ray of hope however. He had read that wasps usually die out within a year including the queen. Then a new queen is selected from the females and the nest begins again. If that was true, then it meant that the colony would not last forever. But he wasn't sure if that applied to this species and if it did, it still meant the wasps would have a year to grow and rampage across the country before they died. He couldn't let that happened. These creatures had to be stopped before they hurt anyone else.

He noticed that Jeremy had finally stopped banging into the cell wall and was looking at him.

"Jeremy, can you hear me?" Jack said.

He cursed when he got no response.

"I can't save you now, Jeremy, but I promise I will stop the other wasps and prevent them from ruining any more lives." He said to him.

He sighed when Jeremy began to ram his body against the cell again.

"Owen's right, you need to be sedated before you kill yourself." He said.

He turned and started to walk away when he noticed Ianto running towards him.

"Police just called, there's been another stinging victim. They need you to get back to London as quickly as you can" Ianto said to him.

Jack shook his head and sighed. He put his hand on Ianto's shoulder.

"Keep an eye on Jeremy while we're gone. I'm gonna get Owen to sedate him before we leave and I'll leave you the tranquilizers. We'll be back as soon as we can."

Ianto nodded.

"Be careful." He said.

Jack smiled and squeezed his shoulder.

"You too."

He walked past him as Ianto stared sadly at Jeremy.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor knew something was up the moment he and Rose walked into the flat. Jackie was perched on the edge of the couch staring at them. He could tell she was hesitant to speak and he figured it was because Rose had gotten on her the last time she had ambushed him at the door.

"What is it, Jackie?" he asked her.

She hesitated.

"It's alright, just tell me what's wrong."

Jackie let out a sigh of relief.

"There's been another one. A woman this time. She was stung and taken to St. George's. It's been on the news for the past hour."

Rose looked at the Doctor and saw all the color drain from his face. She quickly took his hand when she saw the anguished look on his face. He staggered back and slumped against the wall.

"Doctor," Rose said concerned.

For a moment, she saw his eyes darken and she thought he was going to fly into a rage at his failure to protect this latest victim. Instead, he leaned back up from the wall and sighed sadly as he fought to compose himself.

"Come on, Rose, let's get back to the hospital before someone moves her." He said to her.

Rose nodded. She glanced over at Jackie who was staring at him sadly.

"We'll be back later, mum." She said.

"I'll fix something for you to eat when you get back." She replied.

Rose had the feeling that the Doctor was in no mood to eat, but he didn't say anything. His hand unconsciously found Rose's and she squeezed it giving him the comfort and strength she knew he needed. She noticed that he didn't look her way like he usually did when she did that. He just started walking back out the door determined to get to this woman before someone else did. Rose looked back at her mum and smiled at her before she went out with him and closed the door behind them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"At last," the Doctor muttered as he and Rose got into the lift.

They had just reached the hospital and this time the woman, Monica Simpson, hadn't been moved. She was up on the third floor in the intensive care unit and this time he had managed to convince the receptionist to let them go up. They had walked past several police officers standing guard in the hallway and he showed the psychic paper to the ones who stopped him and asked for identification. When they finally got to the lift and reached the floor, he had shown the psychic paper to the head nurse and then he and Rose walked to the room.

He paused when he saw her lying strapped down in the bed. He could see that the change was already starting. Her skin was jaundiced and her eyes were black. Other than that, she was still human. He and Rose walked to her side and he smiled down at her when she looked up at him fearfully.

"Monica, I'm the Doctor, can you speak?" he asked.

"Help me, please help me." She said in a soft voice.

The Doctor felt his hearts tear in two. He smiled reassuringly and put his hand on his shoulder not wanting to tell her that at the moment he didn't know what to do to reverse the effects.

"Trust me, Monica, I will do everything in my power to help you." He said to her.

Monica smiled up at him taking comfort in that. Suddenly, she let out a scream and her body jerked as an agonizing pain ripped through her body. The Doctor looked at Rose and handed her the psychic paper.

"Go find a nurse. Tell her Monica needs a sedative. If they ask who you are, flash the psychic paper at them.

"Yes, Doctor," Rose said.

She ran out of the room as the Doctor turned his attention back to Monica.

"Monica, listen to me," he said urgently. "Just try to breathe normally. My friend is going to get a nurse, but you need to try to calm down. Do you understand?"

"Oh God, it hurts!" Monica screamed. "Please help me!"

The Doctor cursed under his breath as he tried to help her fight the pain.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Rose ran up to the nurse's station. She cursed loudly when she didn't see anyone there. She looked around, but she couldn't see any nurses or aides in the hallway. She took off down the hallway looking in all the rooms for anyone who could help.

As she ran past the lift, she didn't notice the door open and Jack and the Torchwood team get out and walk the other way towards Monica's room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"It's this way," Jack said looking back at his team.

He reached Monica's room and paused as he looked in the room.

"What is it?" Gwen asked.

Jack looked back at them.

"Someone's in the room. He's wearing a trench coat and standing by the bed." He said to her.

"Probably a detective inspector or something." Owen replied.

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking," Jack replied. "Ah well, he'll just have to get out of the way and let us do our job then. Just wait out here and I'll explain who we are."

The others nodded and waited by the door while Jack went inside.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor was staring down at Monica when he sensed someone coming in the room.

"Thank Rassilon, it's about time she got back." He muttered to himself.

He turned around expecting to see Rose with one of the nurses, instead he saw someone he hadn't expected to see in a million years. He froze in his tracks and stared at him with wide-eyed shock.

"Hi, Captain Jack Harkness," he said. "And you are?"


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Jack smiled at the stranger who continued to stare at him silently. An uneasy silence fell over the room when neither man moved or spoke. Jack sighed.

"You know, I know that we're not exactly popular among you guys, but the very least you could is introduce himself." He said to him.

He shook his head when the Doctor remained silent.

"Fine, if you want to be a rude asshole, go right ahead." He said.

He leaned out the door and called his team in. They followed him as he started to walk around the Doctor.

"Don't mind this guy; he apparently doesn't want to say who he is." Jack said glancing back at the others.

"What are you doing here?"

Jack paused and looked at him when he heard him speak.

"Oho, so you can talk, good." He said walking up to him. "Well, like I told you a minute ago, I'm Captain Jack Harkness and this is Toshiko Sato, Gwen Cooper, and Owen Harper. We're Torchwood and we're here to take Miss Simpson away for treatment and---"

Jack paused when he noticed the Doctor glaring at him.

"What, you don't like that?" Jack asked.

He sighed and looked back at the others when he saw the Doctor narrow his eyes.

"Look, buddy, I know you hate us, but we were summoned here by the police to handle this assignment. We are not a bunch of ambulance chasers looking to steal your thunder. So would you show us some respect? We show you guys respect."

"I'm not with the London police."

Jack looked at him. He looked down at his clothes.

"You're not a detective inspector?"

"No."

Jack thought for a moment.

"Scotland Yard?" he said.

"No."

"Um…MI6?"

"No."

Jack sighed.

"Family…friend…random man who walked in the wrong room, what?" he said to him. "I'm getting a little tired of this stupid guessing game. Why don't you just tell us who you are before I go tell someone you are in here without authorization."

He glared when the Doctor snorted at that. He looked at his team.

"Come on, let's get to work." He said to them. "Just ignore the mystery man."

They walked around the other side of the bed and leaned over to look at Monica.

"Miss Simpson, I'm Captain Jack Harkness. We're with Torchwood. We're here to help you." he said gently. "The man beside me is Owen Harper. He's going to take a look at you."

He stepped aside and let Owen examine Monica. He kept his eyes on Monica, ignoring the Doctor who was staring at him intently.

"The change is beginning. It's in the first stages though." Owen said looking at him.

"Change, what change? What's happening to me?" Monica said staring up at him fearfully.

"It's alright, just calm down." Owen soothed. "We're going to help you. We have a facility in Cardiff that we're going to take you to and we can get you better treatment, okay?"

Monica nodded.

"Cardiff? You work in Cardiff?"

Jack stared at the Doctor.

"Yeah, you got a problem with that?" he said.

"No, I just figured it's a step back from your old profession."

The others looked over as Jack eyed the Doctor.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" he said.

He paused a moment.

"You do seem awfully familiar. Who are you?"

He sighed when the Doctor remained silent.

"Look, you might think this is cute, but I'm getting really sick and tired of this bullshit. Either tell us who you are or go find someone else to irritate. I---"

At that moment, Rose ran into the room.

"I finally managed to find a nurse. She's on her way. " She panted." Someone was going into cardiac arrest and they were all in his room helping---"

"ROSE?"

Rose jerked her head over. Her mouth dropped open.

"Jack? What are you doing here?"

"I might ask you the same thing. Where's the Doc…"

He suddenly had a thought and looked at the man standing across from him.

"Doctor?" he said.

"Hello, Jack." He said.

Tosh, Gwen, and Owen looked at each other as Jack slowly walked around the bed towards the Doctor.

"Why didn't you say so in the first place, then?" he demanded. "What the hell was the deal with the silent treatment? You could have just said hello and told me who you were!"

"Maybe I didn't want to tell you." The Doctor replied.

Jack was taken aback by that. Rose and the team stared at the two men as they stood and stared at one another.

"What do you mean by that? Does it have something to do with leaving me on the Gamestation? Did I do something to offend you and that's why you ditched me?"

"Doctor, what's he talking about?" Rose said. "I thought you said Jack was busy rebuilding the Earth when I asked if we could go back and get him. Did you really ditch him?"

Jack folded his arms over his chest and gave him a pointed look. Just then, a plump elderly woman rushed into the room, gasping for breath.

"I'm so sorry, we were all busy." She said to the group. "This young lady said Miss Simpson needs a sedative."

"Yes, although she's calmed down a bit, but I think it wouldn't hurt her to have one." The Doctor said.

"Wait a minute; we're in charge here, not you." Jack said angrily.

"And I was here before you. This woman was in agony and I sent Rose to find a nurse to give her a sedative. You don't like me usurping your so-called authority, tough. I want to make this woman comfortable and take away her pain. That's my highest priority."

He gave Jack a challenging look. Jack sighed and looked at the nurse.

"Yeah, get Miss Simpson a sedative." He said.

The Doctor smirked at that. Tosh, Gwen and Owen looked at each other in amazement as the nurse went out to her med cart.

"You didn't have to do that to me in front of my team." Jack muttered to him.

"First off, I don't give a damn about you and your team. I care about this woman lying here who is in extreme pain and needed something to lessen it. I made a judgment call and I stand by it and I don't care what anyone thinks of that and secondly…when did you start having a team anyway? What exactly is this Torchwood?"

Jack sighed. They all moved out of the way, as the woman came back in with the sedative. Jack pulled the Doctor and Rose into the corner of the room.

"Torchwood is a covert organization that investigates aliens and supernatural occurrences. There are several branches of it, but I started this branch and I based it in Cardiff because I was waiting for you to show up there. And the reason I was waiting for you is I want some explanations from you which gets me back to my earlier question of why did you ditch me?"

The Doctor sighed and looked back at the others who were watching the three of them in confusion.

"Can we go somewhere and talk about this in private?" the Doctor asked him.

"Sure," Jack said shrugging.

"Do you want me to stay here?" Rose asked.

"No, I want you to hear it too." The Doctor replied. "I just don't know this team of yours and I'd rather not tell you some things in front of them."

"That's fine; we need to get Monica ready to be moved anyway." Jack replied.

The Doctor frowned.

"And I take it you also moved Jeremy Spencer?" he asked.

"Yes, although, he is no longer Jeremy Spencer. His mutation is complete and we're trying to get Monica back to the Hub and find a cure before she ends up the same way."

"Then, I want you to share what you know with Rose and I since we have the same goal in mind."

"Sure, I'll be happy to now that I know who you are," he said. "And that's another thing I want to know. Why you wouldn't tell me it was you until Rose came in."

"Let's...just get out of here and then talk." The Doctor said glancing back at the others.

"Fine, there's a cafeteria downstairs I think. We can get something to eat."

The Doctor nodded.

"After you then…"

Jack looked over at his team.

"Guys, I need to talk to these two. In fact…"

He looked at the Doctor and leaned in.

"Is the TARDIS near here?" he whispered.

"It's over by the Powell Estate." The Doctor whispered back.

"Can you give me a lift so I can have my team get Monica back to Cardiff then?"

The Doctor hesitated and for a moment, Jack thought he was going to refuse, then he nodded. Jack looked at his team.

"Guys, these are old friends and they have a way to get me back to Cardiff. Just go ahead, get Monica out of here, and head back. I need to talk to them and I'm sure it's gonna take awhile."

Tosh, Gwen, and Owen glanced at each other and then nodded.

"Great, I'll see you guys back at the Hub then. If anything comes up, call me on my mobile." He said.

He looked at the Doctor and Rose.

"Follow me." Jack said. "We have a lot of catching up to do."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

After asking a couple of people for directions, they finally found the cafeteria. Jack ordered a cheeseburger, chips, and Coke while the Doctor and Rose ordered tea. All three of them carried their food to a nearby table and sat down.

"Okay, we're alone; now tell me what's going on."

The Doctor sighed, glanced at Rose, and began to speak.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Rose sat in silence, her cup of tea cold and untouched. She was listening to the Doctor and Jack talking to one another, hardly daring to believe her ears. Jack was immortal and the Doctor knew that all along? He had abandoned Jack because he was afraid of his immortality? It was hard to imagine the Doctor being afraid of anything let alone Jack. Jack had been furious at that and had hurled accusations of abandonment and narrow-mindedness. The Doctor had tried to explain that it was second nature for him to flee from things that were wrong which made him even angrier. The only reason he didn't lose it and scream at the Doctor was because they were in a public place.

The other thing that floored Rose was the fact that she was the one responsible for his immortality in the first place. She felt guilty about that especially when she learned he had been alive for over a hundred years. But Jack had looked at her and gave her a reassuring smile and she knew that he didn't blame her for anything. Still, it filled her with pain. The Doctor had filled her in on most of the things that had happened that day, but he never mentioned this. She understood on one level why he did it, but on another level she couldn't believe that he had abandoned his best friend like that. Especially after all the fun times they had together. She had missed him so much and she assumed he really had stayed behind to rebuild the Earth. If she had known he had been in Cardiff all along, she would have persuaded the Doctor to go see him and would have used all her feminine charms to make him do it.

She didn't say anything though. She just let the two men talk through all the hurt and pain and anger. Eventually, they had gotten past that and reached a point where they were chatting calmly and laughing like old times. Finally, after about an hour and a half, the Doctor finally apologized for abandoning him and Jack gladly accepted, happy that his friends were finally back in his life.

By the time they had gotten through everything two and a half hours had passed and they were the only ones sitting in the cafeteria. They had gotten past the personal issues and were now concentrating on solving the problem of the wasps.

"So by the time you got Jeremy back to the…what did you call it?"

"Hub." Jack said.

The Doctor nodded.

"By the time you got him back to the Hub, the mutation was pretty much complete?"

Jack nodded.

"Then it only took another hour or so before it was finished."

He sighed.

"Now, he's just a huge wasp. There's no sign he was ever a human being to begin with."

"And he called himself Swarm?"

"Yes, he said all of these wasps referred to themselves that way. They are linked together by a collective consciousness. I'm sure the fact that he's trying to get out has more to do with the queen commanding him than his wanting to be free."

The Doctor sighed.

"And now Monica is about to share his fate," he said grimly "Were you telling her the truth when you said you could treat her back at the Hub?"

Jack shook his head.

"No, I was just telling her that to calm her down. I'm at a complete loss for what to do for these people."

He gave the Doctor a hopeful look.

"Do you know anything about these wasps?" he asked.

"No, I know just as much as you do."

"Damn," Jack muttered putting his head in his hand. "I was hoping you ran across these things before."

"No, I've dealt with other insect species, but not wasps."

"Well, I did a bit of research on the internet just to familiarize myself with wasps in general since I figured these things would have some of the same characteristics as Earth wasps. Now, before Jeremy changed, he did mention a queen. So, there has got to be a hive somewhere near here. Question is, where?"

"Wasps…Earth wasps generally choose dry, dark places to make their nests." The Doctor replied.

"So, that would mean any building in London then." Rose said.

The Doctor thought.

"Yes, but I'm guessing these wasps, or at least the queen, has a higher level of intelligence than their Earth counterparts. If that's true, then I'm sure they would have chosen an abandoned building where there would be no chance of someone finding and killing them."

"Both Jeremy and Monica were attacked in the city, so that is a possibility," Jack said. "But, then again, they can fly so they could have a nest somewhere outside the city limits as well."

"Did Jeremy say anything about that before he mutated completely?" the Doctor asked.

"No, he did say there was a hive and he had to return to it, but he didn't say where. He said there were many of them now so either there were a bunch on the ship or they've been busy since they got out."

"So far only two people have been stung," the Doctor mused. "But they were both in the city and police witnessed it. They could have been out in the country and gotten several more people without anyone knowing it. I suspect they've done so. The cells on the ship were tiny which means there weren't very many on board. I'm sure they've made every effort they could to strengthen their numbers before someone captured them again."

Jack shook his head.

"So, we have to act fast to find a way to stop them before the hive gets too big to handle."

He let out a ruthful laugh.

"Don't happen to have a 50 foot can of bug spray in the TARDIS, do you?" he asked.

"Nope, sorry, right out of that."

"Thought not."

He looked down when he heard his mobile ringing. He pulled it out of his coat pocket.

"Harkness," he said.

The Doctor and Rose glanced at each other when they heard someone yelling frantically on the other end.

"Oh shit, can you guys hold them off until I get there?"

He sighed.

"No, Ianto, it won't take me two hours, trust me. I have a very fast way to get back to the Hub. Just keep holed up inside and don't let any of them sting you and above all, keep Jeremy and Monica from getting out. I'm on my way!"

He closed the phone.

"The guys got back to the Hub with Monica and a wasp ambushed them right outside it. They managed to get inside before they got stung. But, its trying to get in and both Jeremy and Monica are going nuts trying to break out of the holding cells we have them in. How far away is your TARDIS?"

"Not far,"

"Can you get me inside the Hub? I need to help them!"

The Doctor nodded.

All three of them leapt up from the table and ran out of the cafeteria.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Gwen gasped as she squatted down behind Ianto's desk. The wasp was banging its body repeatedly against the front door trying to get in. The door was vibrating with every hit and Gwen was sure it wouldn't be long before it broke in. The others had run down to the cells trying to secure Jeremy and Monica while she volunteered to stay behind and guard the door. Now she was sorry she didn't ask one of them to stay behind with her. She checked her gun making sure it was ready should the wasp gain entry and attack.

As she heard another bang and the door shuddered, she looked over and breathed a sigh of relief when Ianto ran over to her, gun in hand.

"They've gotten Jeremy and Monica secured." Ianto said squatting down beside Gwen. "Tosh is making sure the rest of the Hub is secure and Owen went to grab a tranquilizer gun and some darts."

They both gasped when the wasp hit the door and it nearly gave way.

"I hope Owen has a big gun and plenty of tranquilizers then because we're gonna need them." Gwen said. "God, I wish Jack was here."

"I just talked to him and he's coming. He said he had a way to get here quickly." Ianto said.

"I hope it's faster than the speed of light because this wasp is about to break down the bloody door and get us." Gwen said.

Just then, they heard Tosh let out a shocked yell and heard a strange wheezing sound coming from somewhere inside the Hub.

"Oh Christ, now what?" Gwen said.

She stood up.

"TOSH? WHAT'S GOING ON? WHAT'S THAT SOUND?"

There was a pause.

"IT'S JACK, HE'S HERE!" she yelled back.

Gwen and Ianto looked at each other.

"HOW'D HE GET BACK IN THE HUB?" She yelled.

"My friend has excellent transportation," Jack said running into the room. "And now that I'm here, what's going on?"

He gasped when there was another loud bang at the door.

"All hell's breakin' loose, that's what's going on." Gwen said. "I hope your friend brought a bazooka with him because I have a feeling that's the only thing that'll keep us from being killed!"


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

Gwen and Ianto looked over when they saw a man running into the room. He paused and smiled at them.

"Guys, this is my friend, the Doctor," Jack said to them. "My other friend, Rose, is somewhere in the hub."

"She's with Tosh and Owen," the Doctor said to him.

They jumped when the wasp slammed into the door and it nearly flew off its hinges.

"It's almost inside," Gwen said.

The Doctor stared at the door and suddenly sprinted out of the room. Ianto and Gwen watched him go.

"Some help he is," Gwen said to Jack.

"Oh, I wouldn't count him out yet, he's got a plan, I'm sure of it."

He paused when he heard the wheezing of the TARDIS.

"What was that?" Gwen asked.

"Um, that was his ship. It's called the TARDIS and…it just left."

Gwen and Ianto looked at each other and gave him a pointed look.

"I'm sure he left for a good reason," Jack said sheepishly.

They gasped when the wasp hit the door again.

"One more good hit and that door's gonna go," Ianto said.

Jack pulled out his Webley and pointed it at the door.

"I won't let that wasp get far. I will shoot it before it gets any of us!" he vowed.

They all tensed waiting for the wasp to strike again, but nothing happened. Jack lowered his gun slightly and looked at his friends who were just as confused as he was.

"What happened?" Gwen said.

Jack slowly walked towards the door. He stood in front of it listening.

"I…think it's gone," Jack said looking back at them.

Gwen and Ianto looked at each other and slowly stood up. Jack looked over as Owen and Tosh ran into the room followed by Rose.

"Jeremy and Monica are tranquilized and we ran back here to help you fight the wasp, what did you guys do to make it stop?" Owen asked.

"We didn't do anything, the attack just stopped," Jack said.

"Where's the Doctor?" Rose asked.

"I don't know, I heard the TARDIS leave," Jack said. "He didn't tell you where he was going?"

"No, I was with Owen and Tosh helping them to sedate those two wasps," Rose said.

She walked towards Jack.

"The TARDIS is gone?" she said.

"Yeah, I heard it leave about five minutes ago and right after that, the wasp stopped attacking the door."

They spun around when they heard the TARDIS's wheezing.

"Doctor!" Rose said running towards the sound.

The team looked at each other and followed her. They went through the cog door and Rose let out a relieved cry when she saw the Doctor emerging from the TARDIS. She flung herself into his arms and he held her tight.

"Doctor, where did you go?" she asked.

"Oh, I went outside to do some wasp catching," he replied.

"You were the one who stopped the wasp?" Jack said to him.

"Stopped and trapped, come inside and see," he said proudly.

Rose and Jack entered the TARDIS followed by the rest of the team. The team looked around the interior in awe for a moment and then their eyes settled on a domed prison sitting in front of the console. Inside it was the wasp.

"Force field bubble," the Doctor said walking up behind all of them. "I landed near the wasp, coaxed it inside and the TARDIS trapped it."

"Doctor, you could have gotten stung!" Rose said alarmed. "Why didn't you let me go with you?"

"Because you were off helping others and I could handle it myself," he said to her. "I'm alright; the wasp didn't get a chance to sting me. It barely got in the door before it was trapped. Now if you want to sedate it, the TARDIS can fix it so the dart will pass through without the wasp getting out. You'll be able to knock it out in complete safety."

"Owen, get the tranquilizer gun," Jack said to him.

Owen nodded and ran out. Jack walked up to the bubble and looked inside at the wasp.

"My name is captain Jack Harkness, we're here to help you," he said to it. "Do you remember your name?"

The wasp stared at him for a moment and then began to hit the top of the bubble. Jack sighed.

"Jeremy and Monica aren't responding to their names either," Tosh said.

"It's the collective consciousness," the Doctor said. "Once the victim becomes a full wasp, it becomes enslaved to the queen. It only lives to carry out her commands. I suspect the mutation wipes the memory so the victim will not question itself and her authority."

"So, this wasp, I suppose it was carrying out a rescue mission then." Jack said.

"Most likely," the Doctor said nodding. "It was able to sense its fellow wasp's minds and follow that here."

"So that means there might be more coming if they learn that this wasp has been caught," Ianto said.

"Possibly, yes," the Doctor said. "Although I seriously doubt you're gonna get a swarm of them descending on Torchwood. If that were the case that would have happened with Jeremy and Monica, but instead they sent only one. No, I doubt that their numbers aren't up to a level where they can wage a mass attack. They probably will do as they did this time and send out one or two at most. They can't afford to lose a bunch of them at the same time, not when they are trying to expand the hive.

"We could always sic myfanwy on them," Tosh offered.

They looked over and stepped aside when Owen ran up the ramp with the tranquilizer gun. He stopped in front of the force bubble and aimed it.

_You will not get away with this. We will find you and destroy you._

Owen was taken aback when he heard a voice in his head. He looked over and noticed the confused looks on his friend's faces.

"Did you just hear that?" he asked them.

"Yeah, it sounded like someone spoke, but it was in my head," Jack said.

"It's him," the Doctor said pointing to the wasp. "Apparently he can communicate telepathically."

He walked up to the force bubble.

"I am the Doctor, who am I speaking to?" he addressed the wasp.

_I am the queen. We are swarm._

The team and Rose looked at each other as the Doctor folded his arms over his chest.

"Queen of the Swarm, I order you to stop what you are doing and surrender yourself and your slaves," he said. "If you do this and cooperate, I will find you a planet where you can live and thrive without hurting anyone else. Otherwise, we will be forced to fight back and stop you."

He heard the queen laughing in his head.

_Why should I leave this place? I like it here. It has everything I need for my subject's survival._

You cannot stay on Earth. You cannot turn the people of this planet into your slaves. I give you one last chance to surrender and go to another planet peacefully. I will not offer you this chance again!"

The Doctor suddenly felt the queen searching through his mind. He quickly set up mental blocks, but not before she could get a glimpse of his memories.

_You are not of this world._ The queen thought.

"No, I'm not, I'm a Time Lord, and I have the means to transport you and your subjects in my ship. I'm willing to do it, but you must surrender to me first."

_No, Doctor, you will surrender your mind to me. I will make you mine. You are fit to be my consort._

The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Well, guess what, I'm not gonna do it, so you might as well not even bother," he said.

"Then perhaps you will enjoy seeing the pretty one with the yellow hair becoming my subject. You care for her, do you not?"

Rose gasped and looked over at the Doctor who unconsciously backed up towards her.

"I warn you, messing with her is a very dangerous thing to do," he snarled at the wasp. "I'm telling you right now to leave her alone."

_Then, perhaps the undying one will do. You care for him as well, I see. In addition, one who cannot die will come in very handy for me since I can use him repeatedly in our conquest of this planet._

"I mean it, you touch them and I will find your hive and rip it to shreds!"

The queen laughed.

_You do not scare me, Time Lord, you may think you are superior to me, but you are just as susceptible to my subject's sting as the others are. And once you are stung, you will becoming my willing slave and do everything that I command including converting those you care deepest about._

"Owen, we've heard enough of this crap, knock it out," Jack said.

_Do not think for one minute you or your friends are safe, Doctor. I will hunt you down and make you mine no matter what it takes. _

"Do it, Owen!" Jack said.

_I will convert you myself and leave enough of your mind free so you can watch yourself converting the pretty one and the undying one and then you will watch helplessly as they slowly change and become one with us._

"DAMN IT, OWEN, SHOOT!" Jack yelled.

Owen shot the gun and the dart went through the bubble, hitting the wasp in the neck.

_Watch your back, Time Lord, Swarm is coming for you, and those you love, and you won't be able to stop…_

The tranquilizer took effect and the wasp fell to the grate unconscious. Owen lowered the gun and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good, let's get this thing into one of the cells," Jack said.

He moved towards it and hesitated.

"Um, do we have to say something for the TARDIS to lift the force field?" Jack asked the Doctor.

At that moment, the force bubble vanished.

"Nope," the Doctor said shrugging.

Owen gave the gun to Tosh and he and the rest of the team ran to the wasp, lifted it up, and carried it out of the TARDIS. The Doctor walked over to Rose and took her hand. He waited until everyone was out of the TARDIS before he spoke to her.

"I have to go, Rose, I have to get away from here before something happens to you and Jack."

"Doctor, no, I want to come with you!"

The Doctor lifted her hand to his lips and gave it a lingering kiss.

"No, I can't allow that. I need to be alone for the moment," he said looking into her eyes.

"No, please don't leave me behind," Rose begged.

"I have to. You heard the queen, she wants me, and as long as I remain here, I'm putting everyone around me in danger. I have to leave and figure out a way to stop her. You'll be safe here for the moment with Jack and his team. This building is secure and I'm sure Jack and the others will step up their defenses after what happened today."

"Doctor, don't do this," Rose said on the verge of tears. "Let me face the danger with you. Please don't ditch me like you tried to do on the Gamestation, please!"

The Doctor put her hand to his cheek and put his hand over it.

"I'm not saying goodbye to you, I will return, but for the moment I must be alone. Please, Rose, don't make this any harder than it is."

He reached over with his other hand and wiped away a tear.

"I'll be alright, I promise you that," he said gently. "You have your mobile and you can call me. I swear on the seal of Rassilon that I will come back and get you. I'm not ditching you. I just need time to create a diversion so you can have time to regroup and ready yourselves. I'll come up with a plan and then I will come back and get all of you and we will stop them together. but while I'm here, you are all in danger and I want the heat taken off of you long enough for you to prepare yourselves, alright?"

"Doctor, be careful, please be careful!"

He smiled.

"I will, angel, I won't do anything reckless, I promise. The queen can't track me since I'm not a part of the collective consciousness and I'll be away from the wasps in here."

Rose flung her arms around his neck. The Doctor pulled her close to him and held her protectively.

"It'll only be for a short time and then we'll be together again," he whispered. "You'll be with Jack and he'll look after you."

He leaned into her ear.

"And when I say look after you, that doesn't mean he can put his hands all over your body, it just means he'll see that you're safe."

He smiled when he heard Rose laugh at that and hugged her tighter. He tried to pull away, but Rose wouldn't let go. She sobbed when he pulled her arms apart and he held her hands as he put his forehead against hers.

"I'll call you tonight and let you know where I am so you won't worry," he said. "So you wait for my call and you pick that sucker up on the first ring because if I get voice mail there'll be hell to pay!"

He smiled when Rose laughed again and kissed the top of her head. He looked up when Jack entered the TARDIS.

"So, now what, Doc?" he asked.

The Doctor quickly explained his plans to Jack. Jack was visibly upset, but he agreed to it figuring the Doctor knew what he was doing. The Doctor took Rose's hand and followed Jack as he walked outside the TARDIS. Once they were outside, the Doctor gently nudged Rose over to Jack's side.

"Look after her for me while I'm gone, Harkness,"

"I will, sir," Jack said saluting.

He smiled at Rose.

"I miss you already," Rose said to him.

The Doctor smiled lovingly at her and ran the back of his hand down her cheek.

"I'll see you when I get back," he said. "Don't blow up the place or run up the pizza bill or make too many crank calls. I'm sure Jack and his buddies wouldn't appreciate it."

Rose laughed. She ran to him and gave him one more hug. The Doctor kissed her cheek and whispered words of love in her ear. Then reluctantly they broke apart and the Doctor forced himself to go inside the TARDIS and shut the door. Rose stepped back and Jack held her from behind as they stood and watched the TARDIS dematerialize and vanish.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Jack sighed. He kept walking by his office and saw Rose sitting there at his desk, looking dejected. Finally, after the fifth pass, he came inside and knelt down beside her.

"Rose, the Doctor will be alright, just quit worrying about him," he said to her.

"It's not fair, Jack. He's left me behind again!" Rose said.

"Rose."

"He does this all the time, Jack! I was good enough to travel with him, but the moment my life is threatened, he just leaves me behind."

"He left me behind too, Rose. My life was threatened and he ditched me, but you don't see me sitting alone in an office being angry and sullen."

"I just…It's just…"

"It's just that you love him and you're scared he might end up being turned into one of those wasp things."

Rose swallowed hard and nodded.

"Why don't you call him, Rose?"

Rose looked at him.

"Do you think I should? I mean, he might be busy and he'll get angry if I try to call him."

Jack stared at her in disbelief.

"The Doctor getting angry at you? Are you kidding me? If the Doctor didn't want you to call, he never would have mentioned it. Go ahead and call him and if he does get angry, he'll have me to deal with."

Rose sighed. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her mobile. She hesitated a moment before scrolling through the numbers and finding his. She pushed the talk button and held it to her ear, listening to it ring.

After two rings, she heard him answer. She was about to say something when she heard,"City morgue, you stab em, we slab em."

Jack frowned when he saw the shocked look on Rose's face.

"What? What is it?" he said.

Rose heard the Doctor snickering on the other end of the line.

"Angel, is that you?" he said.

Rose finally found her voice.

"Uh…yeah," she said.

The Doctor chuckled.

Sorry to startle you. I knew it was you and I just couldn't resist saying that," he said cheerfully. "So, what's up? Jack hasn't pounced on you yet, has he?"

"Um, no, he's behaving himself."

Jack sighed angrily.

"I'm not raping Rose, Doctor!" he yelled out.

"Rose, put the phone to his ear a moment, would you, please?"

Rose held the mobile against Jack's ear.

"Yes, Doctor?" Jack said.

"Very good, Harkness, I'm glad to hear you aren't taking advantage of Rose in my absence. That is a very wise decision on your part. Now, if you would be so kind as to give her some privacy, it would be much appreciated, thanks!"

Jack rolled his eyes and stood up.

"I suppose I will leave you two alone now," he said to Rose.

Rose put the mobile back to her ear.

"He's gone, Doctor," she said, when Jack stepped out and closed the door behind him.

"Good, I want to talk to you without him listening in," he said.

Rose sighed softly.

"Doctor, where are you at?" she said.

"Oh, I'm in the year 100 trillion."

Rose's eyes nearly popped out of her head.

"What?"

"Yeah, I went all the way to the end of the universe where those wasps will never find me," he said proudly. "You oughta see it, Rose. It's fascinating here. All the stars have burned out and the sky is pitch black. I'm sitting in the middle of a barren desert on some Rassilon-forsaken planet reading by lantern light. So, how are things back in 2006?"

"Um…they're…fine, Doctor," Rose said.

"Oh, that's good. Glad to hear everything is going along swimmingly in Car…"

Rose frowned when she heard the Doctor cut himself off mid-sentence and yell at something to get away from him.

"Ugh," the Doctor said when he finally resumed his conversation with Rose. "Sorry, Rose, I had to fend off another sneak attack by the flesh eating mutants. Nasty little buggers, they're just dying for a nip at me. Anyway, sorry about the interruption, I was busy repelling them with a flaming torch. Hopefully, they'll stay away now. Now, you were saying…or rather I was saying, I'm glad things are going well in the twenty-first century."

Rose was speechless for a moment.

"Doctor, are you really in the year 100 trillion?" she asked.

There was silence for a moment, and then the Doctor snickered.

"Nah, I'm just havin' you on. I'm in Central London in an abandoned warehouse."

Rose sighed angrily while the Doctor giggled insanely.

"Yeah, that was real funny, that was," she said.

"Hey, I did have you going there for a moment. You really did think I was calling you from the year 100 trillion."

"Well, it's bad enough being separated from you without hearing that you're 100 trillion years away from me."

"Nah, I'd never go that far anyway. No Time Lord has ever been that far, and I don't fancy being the first. Besides, I'm not one to walk away from a fight, you know that. Wasps are flying around terrorizing London, and I'm gonna stay and do something about it."

He paused.

"How are you though?" he said, concerned. "They haven't tried to attack the Hub, have they?"

"No," Rose said softly.

There was another pause.

"Rose, I'm sorry I had to do this. I'm sure you're angry at me for leaving you behind, but I'm doing it…"

"To keep me safe, yes, I know!" Rose spat out.

The Doctor sighed.

"Yes, Rose, that was part of it. But, also because I trust you to help with Torchwood's preparations. I don't know Jack's team all that well, and Jack can be a bit unreliable at times. I know I can trust you to see that everything is in order before I return. I'm not forcing you to sit this out, Rose. On the contrary, I'm asking you to be the liaison between myself and Jack and his team. If they find out anything, I want to know about it and vice versa. We can get a lot more accomplished if there are two teams instead of one. As I told you earlier, I'm not ditching you. I'm relying on you to back me up and alert me if anything happens there. Believe me, Rose; I don't like the separation any more than you do. I hate not having you here. I hate it when I want to tell you something, and you're not here to listen. I have to fight the overwhelming urge to jump back in the TARDIS and come get you. But, I can't do that right now. I hope you understand, Rose."

Rose swallowed hard.

"I…I do, and I will do what you want. I would do anything you asked of me."

"That's why I knew I could trust you with this," the Doctor said. "Jack argues too much with me. He's too headstrong, and he wants his own way all the time. I'm not saying you should just follow me blindly and do everything I say like a mindless automaton, but you are easier to work with than he is. Plus, I'm more used to working with you since we've been together longer. We know each other better, Rose, and that's why I'll feel more at ease if you are there being my eyes and ears. I promise it won't be that long a separation, but you have to bite the bullet until we find a way to stop these wasps for good."

"I know. I just wish you were here right now."

"I do too. But, at least we have the mobile and can hear each other's voices, so we aren't entirely separated," he said. "You can call me once a night if you want to, in fact, I would love that. I don't think I can go longer than that without hearing your sweet voice."

Rose blushed, as he chuckled.

"Anyway, Rose, I hate to cut you off, but I was in the middle of some calculations, and I really need to get back to them. You keep those people in line for me, and give Jack a swift kick in the arse if he acts up, okay?"

"Okay, Doctor."

"I'll talk to you later, Rose, have a great night."

"You too, Doctor, I love you."

"I love you too, Rose. Bye bye."

"Bye bye, Doctor."

She sighed when she heard the Doctor hang up. She stared at the mobile for a moment before she put it back in her pocket. Standing up, she walked out of Jack's office hoping that there was something she could do to help keep her mind off the Doctor.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

Jack stood outside Jeremy's cell staring at him quietly, while he flew around it. He ached inside knowing he was helpless to save him and Monica from their fates. He always hated it when innocent people ended up suffering like this. He had seen so many, far too many people, who had been killed senselessly. This, to him, was worse. This was a living death in his opinion. Not only had Jeremy and Monica been mutated into gigantic insects, but also, their identities had been stolen from them, and their minds enslaved to some insect queen who didn't care what happened to them. If they didn't need them alive for study, Jack would kill them, as an act of mercy. He only hoped that somehow, someway, he and his team could find a cure for them, and the others who had been transformed, but he didn't hold out much hope of that at the moment.

He looked over when Rose walked up to him.

"Doctor, alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, he's in an abandoned warehouse in London."

She stared at Jeremy, who had now stopped flying and was hovering in mid-air staring at them with his obsidian eyes.

"Do you think he remembers anything about being human?" she asked Jack.

"Who knows? I doubt it, though. I'm sure that queen is controlling every thought that goes into his and Monica's head. They probably think that they've always been this way."

They gasped when Jeremy began ramming his body into the Plexiglas trying desperately to get at them. Jack sighed.

"I guess I'll have to get Owen to knock him out again before he hurts himself," he said, bitterly. "Stay here and keep an eye on him, Rose, we'll be right back."

Rose nodded. She watched, as he walked away and turned her attention back to Jeremy. She backed up slightly, as he continued his assault. She figured the Plexiglas could hold him, but just the same, it made her uneasy standing in front of a huge wasp with an enormous stinger. A stinger that could transform her into one of them. She wished the Doctor hadn't decided to leave. She would feel a lot more comfortable, if he was here beside her.

Jeremy suddenly stopped ramming his body into the wall, and Rose relaxed figuring he was calming down. He turned his body and stared at her, and Rose suddenly felt someone in her mind. She tried to run away, but something was preventing her from moving. She stood and stared at Jeremy, while images of the Doctor flashed through her mind. Finally, it stopped on her phone conversation with the Doctor.

_So, the Time Lord is in London, is he? _

Rose gasped, when she heard the queen's voice in her mind. She tried to back away, but couldn't move her legs. She heard the queen laughing.

_You cannot get away, Rose, I can read your mind now. It seems it is not as strong as your Time Lord lover. He could block me, but you, a mere human cannot, and now, I know what has become of our enemy._

"Don't hurt him, please!"

The queen laughed.

_You are helpless against my army and me. You and all your friends. You will set my children free, and then, you will come to me. I will use you as bait to lure the Time Lord to my hive._

"No, I won't help you! I'll never help you hurt the Doctor!"

"Rose, what's going on?"

Rose turned her head and saw Jack and Owen walking towards her.

_Immortal one! You will free my soldiers and allow Rose to go with them, or she will suffer!_

Jack gritted his teeth.

"Leave her alone!"

_Free my subjects now! I have control of Rose's mind, and I will make her scream, if you do not do as I say._

"Jack, what's going on?" Owen said, looking at him and Rose.

"The queen is in our minds speaking to us. She's got a grip on Rose's mind, and if I don't free Jeremy and Monica and let Rose go with them, she'll hurt her."

"What do we do?" Owen said.

_You will set my children free and allow Rose to go with them._

"And then what?" Jack said. "What will happen to Rose?"

_That is none of your concern._

"On the contrary, everything that happens to my friends_ is_ my concern."

_You cannot stop me, or my army. _

"No, you got it backwards. You cannot stop us, or the Doctor. All you are doing is delaying the inevitable."

_Free my children, immortal one._

"If you will just listen to us, the Doctor wants to help you and your children. He can find you another planet where no one will threaten you, if you will just surrender and allow us to find a way to remedy this, and---"

He was cut short, when Rose suddenly grabbed the sides of her head and fell to the floor, screaming in agony.

_I grow tired of this, immortal one. If you do not do as I say, I will destroy her mind. You underestimate me. I do not need the help of mammals. I will not go to another planet. This planet has all I need, and soon, all life on it will become a part of Swarm. Now, will you free my children and allow them to bring Rose to me, or will you watch her die?_

Rose screams increased in intensity.

"All right, all right, just stop!" Jack yelled, frantically. "I'll do what you say, just leave her mind alone!"

_You will allow my children to leave unopposed._

"Yes, if you give me my word that you will not harm us, or Rose."

I will do what I want. You cannot stop me. You do not know where I am, so your threats are useless. Now, do as I command, or else!

Jack looked at Owen.

"Go back, and get everyone to safety," he said, to him. "I don't want any of you endangered."

"Jack…"

"Do it!" Jack yelled at him.

Owen nodded. He turned and ran, as Jack reached into his coat pocket for the key to the cell. As he neared Rose, he noticed that the mental torture had stopped, and she was whimpering in pain, as she slowly got to her feet.

"Rose, are you alright?"

Rose nodded.

"Jack, don't do this."

"I have to, Rose. I can't let you die. The Doctor will never forgive me. I swear we'll find you and save you, no matter what it takes."

He gestured for Rose to stand back and inserted the key in the lock. He opened the door and moved back, when Jeremy flew out. He hovered near his body, stinger at the ready, while he moved to Monica's cell.

"You may think you've won, but the Doctor will stop you," he said to Jeremy, as he opened the door.

He quickly backed away when Monica flew out.

_Now, mammal, let my children outside, and I won't order them to find and attack your friends._

Jack sighed angrily. He walked in front of everyone and glanced back at Rose. He held out his hand to her, but the wasps quickly surrounded her.

_She is with us now. Just go._

"I swear, if you turn her into one of those things, I will find you and kill you myself." Jack muttered, as he led them towards the lift.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The lift stopped, and Jack and Rose stepped off it onto the street. The wasps hovered over their heads, staring at them intently.

"I'm sorry, Rose, I'm so sorry," Jack said, sadly.

Rose managed a smile.

"You sound just like the Doctor now," she replied.

"I mean what I said, we will come for you, and so will the Doctor."

"I know you will. I have faith in all of you."

She gasped when Jeremy flew down, enfolded her in his legs, and lifted her into the air. Rose managed to give Jack a brave smile before Jeremy turned and flew with Monica into the sky. Jack cursed under his breath, activated the lift, and descended into the Hub, hoping that they would be able to track the wasp's movement and find out where the hive was, before it was too late for the Doctor and Rose.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

Owen let out an enraged yell and hit the wall.

"You should have stopped them!" he screamed at Jack.

"How, Owen? That bitch was tormenting her!" Jack retorted, "I had no choice but to let Rose go with them, she would have killed her if I didn't!"

"So, now what? We call the Doctor then?"

Jack sighed.

"I can't. Rose has the mobile, and I have don't have his number."

"So, we can't warn him either, wonderful."

"The Doctor can handle himself, no matter what happens, he and Rose will be okay."

"And if he can't handle it, he and Rose get turned into those wasp things?"

Jack swallowed hard.

"They won't be. I have faith in them," he said in a hushed voice, "they'll both escape and come back to us."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Rose let out a grunt when Jeremy dropped her onto the rock floor. She got to her knees and looked around at the cave that served as Swarm's hive. Thanks to an eerie phosphorescent light coming from gel blobs stuck to the walls, Rose was able to see her surroundings pretty well. She could see at least twenty wasps flying around the cave, flitting in and out of openings, busying themselves with varying tasks. Rose got to her feet. Suddenly, she heard the queen's voice in her head.

_You will follow my subject. If you resist, he will sting you. Do you understand?_

"Yes," Rose replied.

_Good. Then, obey. _

Rose sighed, resigned to her fate for the moment. Jeremy flew ahead of her, and she followed him deeper into the cave.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The further she went into the cave, the more activity she saw. She looked around, trying to take a head count, but the wasps were moving so fast, she soon gave up. By her estimation, there were at least forty wasps. It terrified her, knowing those were the ones she could see. She wondered how many there really were. Then, she decided she really didn't want to know.

Jeremy led her into a huge cavern. Rose looked around. The walls were lined with gigantic honeycombs. Wasps were crawling all over them and going in and out of individual ones. It was the most bizarre thing she had ever seen. She felt like she was inside an interactive nature documentary.

Jeremy led her to the back of the cavern. Rose saw a huge wasp resting quietly on an outcropping of rock a few feet off the floor. The insect looked into Rose's eyes, as she drew nearer.

_So, Rose Tyler, at last we meet face to face. _

Rose swallowed hard. The queen was twice the size of her subjects, which meant if she stung her, she was likely to die from the wound before she could transform, which didn't seem like a bad option to her considering Jeremy was little more than a mindless slave now.

Jeremy brought her within a few feet of the queen and stopped.

_You may leave us, my loyal subject. Go and assist your brothers and sisters._

Jeremy turned and flew off. Rose watched him go while the queen studied her intently.

_You care for him. You care for the creature he once was. You think there is still a chance he can become human once more. I assure you, Rose, that the human part of him is now dead. Now, he is nothing more than a part of Swarm. _

Rose glared at her.

"Why are you doing this?" she demanded.

_Isn't it obvious? I'm ensuring the survival of my kind by rebuilding my hive after it was decimated, and my children slaughtered by creatures much like yourself. Every creature has a right to exist, isn't that what your Doctor believes?_

"He meant that you have a right to exist if you don't violate the rights of others!"

_But, don't your kind do exactly that? When you settle in an area, don't you build your cities and drive away or kill every other animal that was there first? Don't you disrupt the natural order of things in order to satisfy your own needs? _

Rose was dumbfounded, freaked out that a giant alien wasp had that much insight into human beings.

_I sense shock. You are amazed I know your kind so well, but my children are out roaming through the countryside and cities. I see what they see. Not to mention I have complete access to their thoughts, just as I have access to yours. All minds on this planet are open to me, save one. The one you feel love for. The being who calls himself the Doctor. _

Rose gasped when she felt her head began to throb.

_Where is he, Rose? Where is the Doctor?_

"I'll never tell you!"

Rose felt the queen searching her mind. She tried to block her thoughts, but the throbbing only intensified.

_Resistance only brings pain, Rose. Tell me where the Doctor is, and the torment will cease. _

"Never!"

Rose gritted her teeth when the throbbing became unbearable.

_He is in a warehouse in London. I know you don't know where he is, but you can talk to him on your communication device. Contact him, Rose, and tell him to surrender._

"No!"

Rose screamed. She felt like her brain was going to explode. Tears ran down her cheeks, as she held her head.

_Rose, this is unnecessary. Surely, the Doctor wouldn't want you to suffer like this for his sake._

"I'll never betray the Doctor, never!" Rose screamed out.

_Very well, I will have one of my children sting you. You will be put into a honeycomb while you transform and when your metamorphosis is complete, you will be under my control. Then, I will send you out to search for the Doctor until you find him or die from exhaustion. Would your Doctor want that to happen to you? Would he rather surrender than see you become a part of this hive? What would he want you to do, Rose?_

Rose sobbed. She knew the Doctor would surrender before something happened to her. She felt the pressure on her mind let up, and she took a shuddering breath, as the pain subsided.

_What is your decision, Rose? Will you contact the Doctor, or will you become one of us? _

"I'll…call the Doctor," Rose said, her shoulders sagging in defeat.

Then do it, Rose.

Wiping the tears from her cheeks, Rose reached into her pocket, grabbed the mobile, and searched for the Doctor's number. Finding it, she pushed the talk button and waited. The phone rang a couple of times before she heard him pick up. Her eyes widened when she heard him singing to her.

"Aaaaah, sugar, doo, doo, doodoo, doo, doo. Aaaaaah, honey, honey, doo, doo, doodoo, doo, doo. You are my candy girl, and you got me wantin' you."

"Doctor?" Rose said, confused.

"Hey, Rose, just kicking back, listening to an oldies station on a little portable radio. I saw it was you, and I thought I'd serenade you a bit with my fantastic singing voice."

Rose bit her lip, listening to his cheerful voice. She squeezed her eyes shut, knowing that the cheerfulness wouldn't last much longer.

"So, angel, what's up? Jack and company behaving themselves? Did you find anything out about the location of the hive?"

A rueful laugh escaped her mouth.

There was a short pause.

"Um…I'm not quite sure what you meant by that laugh. Would you mind enlightening me?" he finally said.

"Doctor, I…"

She trailed off. She couldn't bring herself to betray him.

"Rose? What is it? What's wrong?"

_Tell him, Rose._

"No, I can't. I won't!"

Another short pause.

"Rose? What's going on? What won't you do?"

"Doctor, forgive me, please forgive me."

"Rose," the Doctor said, gently, "what's happened? Where are you? What's going on?"

_Tell him, Rose. _

"No."

Rose screamed, as the unbearable pain returned.

"Rose! Rose, what is happening to you? Where are you? Tell me!"

The pressure eased up. Rose sobbed.

"Rose…is Jack there?"

"No."

Another short pause.

"She has you."

It was more a statement than a question.

"The queen has you, doesn't she?"

"Yes," Rose sobbed out.

"Where are you? Are you at the Hub?"

"No."

The Doctor sighed angrily.

"Doctor, I'm sorry. Please don't be angry at me."

"I'm not angry at you, angel. I'm angry at the queen. Is she near you?"

"Yes."

"Can she hear us?"

"Yes."

"Hold the mobile up to her; I want to speak to her."

"Alright."

Rose held the mobile up next to the queen's head. The Doctor was silent a moment before he spoke.

"I assume, since you kidnapped Rose, that you want me to surrender to you."

The Doctor felt the queen reaching out through the mobile, searching his thoughts, but he had the presence of mind to throw up a mental block beforehand. He smirked when he sensed the queen's frustration at not being able to delve deep into his mind. Finally, she thought back to him.

_You assume correctly, Time Lord._

"Then these are my terms. I will surrender if Rose remains unharmed, and you allow her to go free. If you do that, you can have me free and clear."

_That is all I have to do to obtain your surrender? Leave Rose alone?_

The Doctor sensed her incredulity at that.

"Obviously, being an insect, you don't have a concept of caring deeply for another."

_Yes, you are right. I do not. I expected more of a fight from one such as you. I am disappointed that Rose's capture is all it took to get you to surrender. _

"That is the difference between your species and mine. I feel love for others while you only view your subjects as tools to be used at your discretion. If they get injured or die, you don't care."

_And, caring deeply for this one, that makes you better?_

"It doesn't make me better, it just makes me different," the Doctor clarified.

_It makes you foolish, Time Lord. Because I threaten the life of one simple human, you are willing to surrender your freedom to me. It seems that my way of thinking is better since I do not care about her or you, nor would I give my life in exchange for your safety. _

The Doctor sighed.

"Look, we could argue Gallifreyan verses insect all night long, but I really don't want to, and I'm sure you don't either. So, do you want me or not?"

_Yes, I want you._

"Then, Rose goes free."

_Not until you are brought here before me. I want to see you with my own eyes before I release Rose. _

"Deal."

_You are a fool, Time Lord. _

"Yeah, whatever, where do you want me to go, so I can be picked up?"

_Is there a huge structure or landmark near you that my children can see? _

"Yes, Nelson's Column."

_What is that?_

The Doctor described it to her.

_Very well. Go to this Nelson's Column and wait there for my children. When they come, you will not resist, or I will sting Rose and turn her into my subject. Is that clear?_

"Crystal," the Doctor snarled.

_Very well, say your final goodbyes and obey me before I change my mind about Rose. _

"Rose!" the Doctor yelled.

Rose put the mobile back to her ear.

"Doctor, don't do this!" she begged. "I'm not worth it. Please, save yourself!"

"Shhh, I won't do that, not when your life is at stake. Don't worry about me. I'll be alright. I'll see you soon, my angel. Don't be afraid. I won't let anything happen to you. Just have faith in me."

"I do."

"Good. Now…let me go, so I can get to Nelson's Column, okay? Goodbye, and I'll see you when I get to the hive."

"Be careful."

"I will. Bye, Rose."

"Goodbye, Doctor."

Rose bit her lip when she heard him hang up. Slowly, she put the mobile back in her pocket, praying with all her heart that everything would turn out all right.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

The Doctor stood by Nelson's Column staring up at the sky, as he searched for the wasps. It was nearly ten at night and thankfully, not many people were out. The Doctor was concerned about civilians being around him, just in case the wasps got any ideas about increasing their numbers right along with kidnapping him.

At length, his sensitive hearing picked up a faint buzzing sound, and he readied himself for the ordeal that lay ahead. The buzzing grew louder, and the Doctor saw two wasps flying towards him. He waved his arms around, making sure that they went straight to him and left others alone. The wasps made a beeline, or a waspline, straight towards him. He put his arms down when they stopped in front of him and hovered near his body.

"I assume you are the insect welcome wagon," he said to them.

He stood still while one of the wasps flew around him and grabbed his body.

"Do we get peanuts and a movie on this flight?" he asked it, as it rose up into the air.

The Doctor remained calm, as the wasps flew up into the moonlit sky. He wasn't sure what was going to happen to him, but he knew this much. He was valuable. Otherwise, why not sting him and be done with it? He only hoped that the queen had held up her end of the bargain. Insects were not known for being compassionate, and he knew she would kill Rose without a second thought if it served her purposes. Whatever happened, he had to get her out of there alive. The thought of her becoming a wasp was unbearable to him. Better he suffer that fate than she.

After nearly an hour, the wasps began to descend. The Doctor noticed they were going into a wooded area. The wasps adjusted their flight path and headed into the forest. They weaved their enormous bodies in and out of the trees without hitting so much as a twig. The Doctor was extremely impressed by that, considering their size.

Suddenly, the Doctor spied the gaping hole of a cave just up ahead of them. The wasp lowered itself slightly and flew into it, followed by its companion.

The Doctor was like a kid in a candy shop, as he looked all around him. Curious, he tried to watch what the other wasps were doing and let out a disappointed moan when he realized they were going too fast for him to see with any clarity.

As they flew into the huge cavern, the Doctor looked up at the honeycomb.

"I take it, this is the nerve center of the hive," he said, aloud.

He looked straight ahead and smiled when he saw Rose, alive and unharmed. Behind her was the biggest wasp he had ever seen.

"Okay, either that is the queen, or it's the hive's version of a teenage, couch potato wasp," he said.

"Doctor," Rose said, when the wasp flew up.

"Rose, you'll never guess what incredibly odd thing happened to me this evening. I was walking along, minding my own business, when suddenly this great, big, bleedin' wasp swooped down and, "Oof!"

The Doctor grunted when the wasp dropped him unceremoniously to the cave floor.

"Hey! I was in the middle of a fascinating story. Do you mind?" he said to it.

He got up on his knees, as Rose knelt down beside him.

"Doctor, are you alright?"

"Well, apart from being dropped like a sack of potatoes and getting the wind knocked out of me, yes. How about you? Are you okay?"

Rose nodded.

The Doctor put his hands on the side of her head and leaned in to give her a passionate kiss. Thirty seconds later, he finished and took Rose into his arms while he stared up at the queen. So far, she had said nothing to him nor had she tried to scan his mind. She merely lay on the outcropping and observed him silently. The Doctor waited for her to say something. Finally, he cleared his throat.

"So…um…do I need to say something to get the ball rolling here? Is there a ritual, or greeting, or a series of buzzing sounds I have to do to get you to stop staring at me with your big, creepy eyes?"

_I am fascinated by your behavior. I have never observed humans this closely before. I sense no fear in either of you._

"Weeeeell, that's because Rose and I are used to being in the thick of things and confronting danger on a daily basis."

The queen looked at the two wasps.

_Leave us. _

The wasps turned and flew off. The Doctor watched them leave the cavern. When they were out of sight, he looked around at the honeycombs.

"Planning to sell some honey on the side?" he asked the queen.

_The honeycombs are where we put the humans while they undergo their metamorphosis._

The Doctor was stunned. He looked around at the numerous honeycombs and observed the wasps darting in and out of them.

"What are they doing?" he said, gesturing to them.

_They are checking my future subject's progress and feeding them a special liquid that keeps them sedated and free from pain. _

The Doctor stood up and tugged on Rose's hand. Rose stood with him, and he led her to the nearest honeycomb. Rose glanced behind her, expecting the queen to stop them. But, she rested quietly on her rock and watched them.

The Doctor walked up to one of the cells, and they looked inside. Rose felt sick to her stomach when she noticed there was a little girl lying on her side, unconscious. Other than sporting antennae on her forehead, there was nothing wasp-like about her. Rose felt even more nauseous when she guessed the girl was no more than ten years old.

Enraged, the Doctor stepped inside and knelt down beside her body. Rose followed him and squatted down beside the Doctor. She felt tears coming to her eyes, as the Doctor gently turned the little girl onto her back. She was so beautiful, so innocent. She looked so peaceful, it was hard to believe she would soon transform into an insect. The Doctor smoothed back her blonde curls, and Rose saw an anguished look in his eyes.

"Oh, Doctor, what can we do for these people?"

The Doctor shook his head.

"I don't know, Rose. I don't know if there's anything we can do."

Rose noticed he was trying not to cry while he stared at the girl. She laid her head on his shoulder, aching for him, as she gently took hold of his arm. The Doctor placed his hand over hers, and both of them watched the girl in silence. Rose's eyes traveled down her body, and she noticed there was an enormous puncture wound just below her thigh. Tears fell down her cheeks when she touched the enormous bloodstain spreading out from it. She imagined the terror and pain this little girl must have suffered and wondered if her parents had witnessed her abduction. Then, she wondered if maybe they had been taken too and were lying in separate cells somewhere in the hive, transforming just like their daughter. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't realize the Doctor was staring at her until he reached over and wiped the tears off her cheek. He took her hand and squeezed it.

"I won't rest until I find a cure for them, Rose. I promise that," he said.

"And…if there is no cure?"

The Doctor closed his eyes in anguish.

"Then I will find a way to give them a merciful and painless death, so they won't have to live their lives like this," he murmured.

He opened his eyes and laid his hand on the top of the girl's head.

"If I can't restore these people, then I will end their suffering. This little girl deserves better that this. I won't let her spend her life as a mindless slave. One way or another, she will be set free."

Suddenly, they heard a loud buzzing and both of them gasped when a wasp entered the cell. The Doctor got in front of Rose, protecting her, as they scooted to the back of the cell. But, the wasp ignored them, focusing all its attention on the little girl. Both of them watched with silent horror, as it lowered its head to hers and a long thin tube like probe slid out of its mouth. Rose put her hand over her mouth and turned her head away when the wasp stuck the probe into the girl's mouth and a clear liquid dripped into her mouth. The Doctor was completely sickened by the sight. He was grateful that the child wasn't awake to witness what was happening to her. He had an urge to go right up to the queen and snap her neck for this. True, it was a survival move on her part, grow and multiply, and an insect's world was strictly black and white, it was either increase or die with them. However, the Doctor had offered to take them somewhere where they could regroup without infringing on the rights of others. The queen had refused, and that's what angered the Doctor. This poor child was an innocent victim of circumstance. If the ship hadn't crashed on Earth, she would be out right now playing with her friends, or licking an ice lolly, or out shopping with her mother. Instead, she was being turned into one of them, and once the conversion was complete, she would forget who she was and everything about her life and live only to serve the hive. The Doctor clenched his fist, feeling his blood boil. If he didn't think he and Rose would be stung to death, he would hit the wasp and get it away from her. But, he was helpless to do anything and sat there quietly in the back of the cell, fuming.

After about ten minutes, the wasp finished feeding the girl. It drew the probe back up into its mouth and flew out of the cell. The Doctor looked back at Rose.

"Come with me, Rose, I have a thing or two to say to queenie," he said to her.

"Yeah, you and me both," Rose muttered.

The Doctor stood up and started to walk out of the cell. He looked back, intending to take Rose's hand, and a lump formed in his throat when he saw her tenderly kissing the little girl on the cheek.

"If you can hear me, the Doctor and I will save you, yeah? So, don't be frightened," he heard her whisper.

Wiping a tear from her eye, she stood up and took the Doctor's hand. He gave her a proud smile and drew her close while he walked to the edge of the cell and stepped out of it.

As he neared the queen, his anger grew. Her detached, clinical observation of them brought home the realization that the little girl meant nothing to her except as a future servant. He gathered the only thing she cared about was herself and her own life, and hundreds of lives had been ruined because of that.

"Queen of the Swarm," he said, marching up to her. "You will stop this kidnapping immediately. I order you to gather up your subjects and come willingly with me, so I can take you to another planet."

_I told you, Time Lord, I am not interested--_

"And I'm telling you now, queen, you will not harm any more Earthlings. Your reign of terror ends here and now! Stop it, or I will make you stop it."

_And how will you make me stop? I have an entire hive at my disposal. If you threaten me, they will be on you and Rose within seconds. You have no authority here. You are my prisoner, and I will tell you what to do. If you wish your Rose to leave here, unharmed, then you will obey me and accept your fate. _

"You may think I'm defeated, queen, but I am far from that. I have gotten out of tighter spots than this. Your threats do not frighten me!"

_Very well, then I am forced to demonstrate what happens if you do not comply. _

The queen looked at Rose. Rose frowned when she stared at her and did nothing else. She glanced at the Doctor and her frown deepened when she noticed he was shaking with silent laughter. She looked back at the queen who was buzzing with what sounded to her like frustration.

"Having problems tormenting Rose?" the Doctor asked, casually.

Rose looked at him.

"Is that what she's trying to do?"

"Yup," he said, popping the p. "Unfortunately for her, I took measures to prevent that from happening. You see, that kiss I gave you wasn't just my way of saying hello. I went into your mind during it and threw up some mental barriers to prevent her from doing just what she's doing now. Trying to hurt you and gain my submission. This is why the queen is now going into a tizzy up on her throne. So, instead of showing me your power, I showed you mine. I am no ordinary human. I'm a Time Lord. One of the greatest and mightiest races that ever lived. I am more than a match for you, bugs for brains, and let me warn you right now, underestimating me is a really bad move on your part. So, now that I've shown you just what _I'm_ capable of, I believe I will renegotiate our terms. First off, you will stop what you are doing immediately and call back your troops from any outlying areas. Secondly, you will release any humans you have not converted and thirdly, you will surrender yourself and your subjects to me. Do this and I spare your lives. Refuse and I tear you and this hive apart with my bare hands. So, what'll it be? Your choice and if I were you, I'd choose very carefully.

_You do not scare me, Time Lord. You wish to pit your strength against mine; very well, I will oblige you._

Suddenly, the air was filled with loud, angry buzzing. The Doctor and Rose spun around and noticed wasps were filling the cavern from every side. They hovered in the air, their bodies mere inches from each other. The sound of their buzzing was deafening in the rock cavern. The Doctor looked back at the queen.

_I give you one last chance, Time Lord. Surrender to me or you and Rose will face the combined onslaught of my children. So, what will it be? Your choice and If I were you, I would choose very, very carefully. _


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

The Doctor looked at the buzzing horde above them.

"Okay, many things about this situation are not good," he said, "I think we might be in just a teensy bit of a fix here, Rose."

_What is your decision, Time Lord? Tell me quickly before I order my children to attack._

The Doctor looked at her and looked at the wasps. Then, back at her, then at the wasps. Then, a grin split his face.

"You know," he said, casually, "this whole hive mind thing you have going is awfully handy. I mean, I can see how it would be a right pain in the arse if all your subjects thought for themselves."

He stuck his hand in his trouser pocket while he walked around in a circle.

"Yup, having a mob of mindless minions has its advantages, alright. I mean, look at them. Every wasp in the hive in here at your beck and call. Ready to do your bidding, fulfill your slightest whim. Ready to die at your command. Pretty handy."

He spun around towards the queen.

"Course there are disadvantages to the hive mind system, as well," he said, "such as this!"

Whipping out his sonic screwdriver, he aimed it at the queen and turned it on. The queen jerked her head back, and the Doctor could hear her screaming in his mind.

Rose turned and stared at the wasps. All of them were writhing in pain and bumping into each other in the midst of their mutual agony.

"See, queenie, this is what happens when you choose to think for everyone else!" the Doctor crowed.

_Get him, my children!_

The Doctor grabbed Rose's hand. They sprinted under the confused wasps who were still trying to recover from the Doctor's assault on their queen.

"Rose! Get ahead of me while I keep my eyes on the wasps!" the Doctor yelled.

Rose sped up and darted in front of him. The Doctor kept glancing behind him while both made a beeline for the entrance. After a moment, the Doctor heard angry buzzing and turned his head, noticing that a couple of the wasps had recovered enough to give chase.

"Faster, Rose, faster!" he screamed.

Rose felt her lungs burning, as she and the Doctor ran through the stone passageway towards the entrance. She glanced around and saw the Doctor was holding the wasps at bay with the screwdriver. Every time one got too close, the Doctor would use the screwdriver and send it flying away, disoriented. He was holding his own at the moment, but slowly, more and more wasps joined the chase and Rose knew they couldn't hold them off forever.

Finally, they rounded a bend and saw moonlight streaming in from the front entrance.

"Doctor, we made it!" Rose cried out, joyfully.

Suddenly, a wasp flew in the front entrance trying to blindside them. Rose dropped to the ground, but the Doctor had his head turned in the other direction, focusing his attention on another wasp. By the time he turned his head back around, the wasp was on him. Rose screamed when she saw it thrust its stinger into his back.

"Doctor!"

The Doctor felt to the ground, his face scrunched up in agony. Rose looked up at the wasp who was preparing to sting him again. She lunged forward, grabbed the screwdriver, and with one fluid motion turned it on the wasp. She held it at the wasp's head while it buzzed angrily. Finally, it decided to give up, turned, and flew back down the passageway, leaving Rose alone with the Doctor.

"No, oh God, no," Rose moaned, holding the injured Doctor in her arms.

"Rose, you have to get out of here. They're gonna be back. Forget about me!" the Doctor grunted out.

"No, Doctor, I can't leave you like this."

"You have to, angel. Please, go. I don't want to see you end up the same way."

He grabbed her hand, his eyes pleading and begging.

"Please, Rose, go. I'm begging you; don't let them get you too."

He put his hand against her cheek. Rose could hear faint buzzing coming down the passageway.

"Go," the Doctor said gently.

Rose gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

"I'll find a way to save you, Doctor."

He gave her a pained smile.

"I know you will, now go!"

Reluctantly, Rose forced herself to stand up. Taking one last look at the Doctor, she turned and ran out of the cave.

The Doctor laid his head down on the ice-cold rock surface and waited calmly for the wasps to appear.

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Rose sobbed while she stumbled through the forest trying to find her way to safety. She couldn't believe that the Doctor had been stung only inches from the entrance.

"Oh God, he can't turn into one of those things. He just can't," she sobbed.

Her breath caught in her throat, when she heard buzzing behind her. She forced herself to move faster. She wanted nothing more than to let herself be stung and join the Doctor, but she knew he would never forgive her for that, so she pushed herself through the trees, looking for some sort of cover. She still had the screwdriver in her possession, but it would protect her for only so long, the Doctor was proof of that. Soon, she would be overwhelmed and possibly stung to death if she didn't find somewhere to hide.

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The Doctor could feel the poison coarsing through his veins. He could sense it affecting his body, changing him into a wasp. He gave an agonized look up at the wasp when it stopped and hovered over his injured body. The first few that had come down the passageway had flown past, presumably hunting for Rose. But, this one hadn't done that. He stared up at it silently, wondering if it was going to stab him through the hearts. Surely, after the stunt he just pulled, the queen wouldn't allow him to live.

The wasps lowered its body to him, and the Doctor tensed, waiting for the stinger to pierce his body once more. But, to his surprise, the wasp picked him up, almost tenderly, and flew back into the hive.

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The Doctor groaned when the wasp opened its legs and deposited him on the ground in front of the queen.

_That was a foolish move on your part, Time Lord, and now you have been stung because of it._

"Shut up," the Doctor hissed, "just kill me and get it over with."

_I do not wish to kill you. You will become one of my subjects._

The Doctor gritted his teeth trying to fight the pain.

"Why?" he gasped out.

_Why should I waste a life when it can be put to use for the good of the hive? You have been stung and the change has already started. Once that is finished, you will become one of us._

"I'd rather die."

_I don't doubt that, but you have no choice. You will be put in an empty cell where you will change into one of my children. Then, after that, I will send you to find Rose, so she can join you._

The Doctor's eyes widened in horror.

"No, please, leave her alone. You have me, that's what you wanted in the first place. Let her go free!"

_Rose is a threat to the hive, she knows too much. She will bring others here to destroy us. She must not be allowed to go free._

"Then, why wait until I'm changed before you go after her?"

_Because I think it will be fitting. The one that loves Rose will be the one that captures her. It will prove to me without a doubt that you are a part of Swarm. I know you have a more advanced mind than humans do. I want to be sure you are completely in my control, and the way to find out is to have you go after Rose and bring her back to me._

"We had a deal!"

_Yes, we did, but you nullified that when you tried to escape and now, as punishment, not only will you be made to go after Rose, but you will be given no sedatives of any kind. You will transform in utter agony and misery, Doctor. That is what happens to those who defy me. _

"Rose will find others. You may think she is helpless, but she's smarter than you think. She'll be back, and she'll raze this hive to the ground if she finds I've become a wasp!

She buzzed out a laugh.

_She cannot defeat us. If she does, my children will kill her and any others who are foolish enough to follow her. And, if your transformation is complete, you will be leading the attack. Now, my foolish Time Lord, we have finished our conversation. It is time for you to begin your conversion. And, with every moment of agony, remember that it was your own actions that led you to this point._

She looked up. A few seconds later, the wasp returned, picked him up, and carried the Doctor off to a nearby cell.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

Rose stumbled through the woods blindly, trying to escape the wasps. Branches slapped at her face and thorns nicked her legs, but she took no notice. All that mattered was getting to safety, so she could come back and help the Doctor. She didn't even know if the wasps were following her anymore. All she knew was she had to keep running until she could find someone who would listen to her, and help her get the Doctor away from the hive.

She gasped when her foot hit a tree root, and she grunted when she fell to the ground, the wind knocked out of her. Cursing under her breath, she grabbed her ankle, praying to God she didn't twist it. She slowly rose to her knees. Grabbing the tree next to her, she stood up and put weight on the ankle. She let out a sigh of relief. Thankfully, it wasn't twisted. That was the last thing she needed right now.

She leaned against the tree catching her breath, and that's when she noticed there wasn't any buzzing behind her. She turned her head and looked back through the dimly lit trees looking for any sign of her pursuers. She lay there against the tree, gulping in the cool night air, figuring that any moment a wasp would pop out of the woods and blindside her again. After five minutes, she still couldn't see or hear any wasps, and she let out a sigh of relief. At least they had given up on her for the moment. Any break she could get was a good thing. Leaning back up, she hurried deeper into the woods.

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The Doctor lay on his side in the cell in utter torment. The poison from the stinger was going through his body, rewriting his DNA and mutating his cells. He alternated between feeling unbearably hot and feeling ice cold. He moaned and groaned, writhing in pain. At the corners of his consciousness, he could feel the queen's overpowering influence, as the mental barriers he had erected began to crumble away. Despite the pain he was in, he fought with all of his being to keep her from controlling him. She may eventually win his mind, but he vowed she would not have it without a fight. He opened his eyes and tried to see, but his vision was blurry. He shut his eyes when he started getting a headache.

"Guess my brainy specs won't be just for show anymore," he groaned.

As he lay there, he heard a loud buzzing outside the cell.

"Oh good, the nurse has come with the morphine drip."

He felt someone coming inside the cell, and he turned on his back, wincing at the pressure it put on his injury.

_Hurts, doesn't it, Time Lord? _

The Doctor opened his eyes a crack. Despite his blurred vision, he could make out the enormous body of the queen towering over him.

"Oh, it's you. I didn't know you could move. I thought that fat arse of yours was permanently stuck on that rock," he muttered, shutting his eyes.

He sighed when the queen didn't say anything.

"Yes, I'm still in here. I haven't tried to make an escape or anything, so if you don't mind, I'd really like to mutate in peace."

_It doesn't have to be this way._

"Oh, really, you have a cure? And, I guess in order to get this cure, I have to sacrifice something important, like be your willing slave forever? Isn't that how it goes?"

_I do not have a cure._

"Bollocks, well, never hurts to ask. So, why are you in here then?"

_I can ease your suffering._

"Uh huh, which brings me right back around to my whole, I have to surrender something to you, theory."

_Yes, your mind._

"Figures."

_If you surrender your mind completely to me, Time Lord, I will give you a liquid sedative, and you will spend the rest of your mutation in a dreamless sleep. _

"And when I wake up, I won't remember who I am or anything about my life, including Rose. My mind will be yours to control, and I'll be your little flying puppet, bouncing to and fro, collecting more slaves for you. Thanks, but no thanks. I'm not about to make it that easy for you."

_You would rather spend the rest of your mutation in agony? Is keeping control of your mind worth all that pain? _

"Let me tell you something. If I were you, I wouldn't be in that big a hurry to take my mind. You are not the first creature to try to force me to become part of a hive mind, and the last one that tried it ended up having the tables turned because my mind was actually stronger that hers was, and I destroyed her. You wanna bet that will happen to you also? Because I'm sure it will. You have no idea how powerful I really am because I've been throwing up blocks around the bulk of my mind. Bring those barriers down, and I guarantee you'll live to regret it."

_I can offer you something in return if you surrender your mind to me completely and willingly._

"Really, what? I have to do drone duty, but I get weekends and holidays off?"

_Rose._

"What about her?" the Doctor growled.

_I will spare Rose's life if you agree to become my willing subject. _

No deal!

There was a short pause.

_I do not understand. You will not accept my offer to spare the one you love in exchange for the use of your mind? _

"No, I won't accept it, because I know the moment I acquiesce, you will take control of my mind and send me after her. I'm no fool. You said it yourself; she's a threat to your hive and your subjects. You aren't going to let her go free, so she can come back and destroy you. The moment I become your mindless slave, you will immediately break your promise. Because that's what insects do, they seize every opportunity they can get and if they break their word, well that's just too bad because it's survival of the fittest, and it's every queen wasp for herself. Rose will never be safe from you so long as she's alive, and I'd rather not let you have total control over me if I can help it. So, if that's all you're gonna say, leave me alone and let me enjoy the last few hours I have left being in my own body."

The queen stared at him silently for a moment before backing out of the cell and flying back to her rock.

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Rose paused at the edge of the forest. It had taken over an hour, but she had finally done it. She was exhausted from all the running she did, but now was not the time to rest. She could see a paved road about a half-mile away from her. She smiled. Where there was a road, there was a chance to find a ride to London, or better yet, Cardiff. If she could get back to Jack, she could tell him what happened. Perhaps they had come up with a solution to the mutation. She hoped with all her heart they had. She didn't want to spend the rest of her life looking at the Doctor through a Plexiglas cell. She took a deep breath and willed her tired legs to move; telling herself that each step she took was a step closer to finding a cure for the Doctor.

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After another half hour, she finally reached the road. There were no cars coming either way, so she began to walk on the left side of the road, hoping someone came soon. Her legs were nearly numb, along with her mind. She still couldn't believe that the Doctor had been stung. It seemed like she was stuck in the middle of a nightmare that she couldn't wake up from. She wondered briefly if they had killed the Doctor, then decided it was better not to think about that.

She was so exhausted, she was about ready to lay down by the side of the road and take a nap. Suddenly, she heard the rumble of a motor and turned to see a car coming towards her. She began to yell and wave her arms around. As the car slowed down, she hesitated a moment, wondering if this was some kind of nutter that picked up women, so he could rape and kill them. But, as the car stopped beside her, she noticed it was an elderly, grandfatherly type man with a kind face, and she relaxed. She knew that appearances were deceiving, but she figured if the man were a serial killer, she'd be able to overpower him and get away.

The man stared at her in silence a moment before he lowered his window.

"Are you alright, young lady?" he asked.

"Yeah, I need a ride. I have a friend who's in trouble, and I need to get to Cardiff."

"Cardiff?" the man said in shock. "Whoa, I'm sorry, miss, I'm not going that far."

"Well, can you at least take me to a phone, so I can call my friends to come get me? It's urgent."

The man stared at her.

"What's happened to you? Do you need medical attention?"

Rose sighed angrily.

"No, I'm fine; I just need to get to a phone."

"But, you're bleeding."

Rose gave him a confused look. The man pointed to her dungaree skirt, turned on his dome light and Rose looked at where he was pointing. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw dried blood from the Doctor's puncture wound splattered along the bottom. Seeing that and knowing it was his blood made her nauseous, and she staggered backwards.

"Whoa!" the man said, opening the door and leaping out.

He grabbed her arms and helped her into the car.

"Look, miss, you seem like a nice woman, so I'll take ya home, get ya a nice cup of tea, and you can use my phone, okay?"

"Yes, thank you," Rose murmured sleepily.

The man nodded. Once she got into the car, he slammed the door and walked back around to the driver's side.

"Hold on, Doctor, I'm coming," Rose whispered, as she closed her eyes and let herself rest.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

By the time the man, whom she learned was named Gerald Thompson, arrived at his modest two-story house in the country, Rose was almost asleep. Gerald had to shake her roughly to get her to open her eyes and then had to help her into the house. She managed to reach Jack and both she and Gerald talked to him briefly. After he got directions to the house and promised he was on her way to pick her up, Rose passed out on the sofa and fell into an exhausted sleep while Gerald explained the situation to his wife, Florence.

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Rose was nearly out of breath. She had been running for what seemed like ages, the sound of the wasp's buzzing droning on and on in her ears. They had been chasing her through the woods. Woods that seemed to have no end to it. She was terrified, exhausted, and alone. The buzzing seemed to be mocking her, telling her that she would never escape. Everywhere she looked, she though she could see huge, unblinking black eyes staring back at her from the forest. The muscles in her legs ached and burned and she felt like any minute now, she would give out and fall to the ground. But, she knew the moment she did fall, they would be on her, their sharp stingers ramming into her body from every direction, pumping mutating poison into her veins, and Rose Tyler would cease to exist.

She looked back when she heard the buzzing growing closer and willed her body to move even faster. She was so concerned with looking back at her pursuers, that she didn't notice when she ran straight into something. She screamed. In a blind panic, her fists flailed at the thing, trying to move it out of the way.

"Stop! Rose, you're hurting me!"

Rose froze. She finally calmed down enough for her mind to register that it was the Doctor she had run into. Relief overwhelmed her, and she clung tightly to him, sobbing with joy. Bordering on hysterical, she begged the Doctor to protect her, save her from the wasps before they got her. The Doctor, in his characteristically calm way, wrapped his arms around her and brought her close to his body. Rose couldn't believe it. Suddenly, she couldn't hear the buzzing anymore. The forest was quiet now. Rose sobbed harder, thanking God that the Doctor had the power to stop her attackers. She raised her head, intending to give the Doctor a relieved kiss, when she suddenly saw something that made her heart stop.

The Doctor's eyes. They were coal black…just like the wasps.

Gasping, she tried to break free of him, but he held her close to him with an iron grip. Horrified, Rose watched as antennae slowly sprouted from the Doctor's forehead and his obsidian eyes grew large and round like a character in an anime. Rose screamed and tried to break out of his grip, but four long, spindly legs suddenly burst from his sides and wrapped themselves around her body, trapping her. She shook her head in disbelief, as she watched his clothes rip, tear, and fall off his body to reveal a tough, yellow exoskeleton and a pair of enormous wings. She screamed his name while the transformation slowly became complete and the Doctor lost himself in the body of a huge wasp.

"Rooooooozzzzzzzzzzzze!" he said, buzzing out the latter part of her name.

"Doctor! No! This can't be happening! You can't be one of them!" she screamed.

"I am the Doctor no more! I am…Szzzzzzwarm!" he buzzed, triumphantly.

Rose screamed, pounding at the Doctor's insect body, as he rose with her into the night air. He hovered in mid-air, the moonlight glinting off his exoskeleton while all around him the other members of the hive rose to join him. The Doctor stared at Rose with no hint of recognition or compassion. She stared back at his face and saw her own face reflected back to her numerous times in the compound eyes he now had.

"Come, Roooooozzzzzzzzzzze, join us! Join Szzzzzzzzwarm!" the Doctor said.

Rose screamed as the Doctor turned and headed back towards the hive with the others. The air was alive with the sound of buzzing, drowning out her terrified cries for help. She stared at the Doctor/wasp, screaming out his name, begging him to remember who she was. She kept on screaming, as they entered the cave, and he took her towards the huge cavern where, in time, she would become just like him. Rose pounded on his body, screaming his name and then…

She let out one more scream and jerked awake. Jack was standing over her holding onto her arms while Ianto, Gerald, and Florence stood just behind him.

"Rose! It's me! It's Jack!" he said, putting his hand on her head.

Rose's breathing slowly went back to normal, as Jack crouched down beside her.

"Are you okay?" he asked, concerned.

Rose started crying. Jack took her in his arms and held her tightly while Ianto explained to the concerned couple that everything was all right.

"She was in a car accident, and she's still in shock," Ianto told them, "we're gonna take her to the hospital and get her some medical attention."

"Oh God, Jack, the wasps got him," Rose moaned into his ear, "they got the Doctor."

Jack closed his eyes, anguished at the thought of his friend becoming like Jeremy and Monica.

"It's alright, Rose, we'll get him back," he reassured her, "right now, we need to get you back to the Hub, is that okay?"

"We'll come back for the Doctor?"

"Of course, but right now, we have to make sure you're safe, okay? The Doctor can handle himself. He'll hang on until we rescue him."

Jack swallowed hard. He knew that he was trying to convince himself more than he was trying to convince Rose, but he just couldn't bring himself to imagine the Doctor as one of them. Since her kidnapping, Owen and Tosh had been analyzing Jeremy's blood, frantically working on an antidote to the mutation. He hoped to God they would come up with something soon before it was too late for his friend.

"Come on, Rose, let's get you in the SUV. Can you walk?"

Rose nodded. She hung on to Jack while Ianto came around the other side. She groaned when she felt the stiffness in her legs and both men supported her while she slowly walked out of the house. Glancing over at Gerald and Florence, she managed a tired thank you to them. Gerald smiled.

"It's not a problem, miss, just look after yourself and get better, alright?" he said.

Jack stopped and looked at him.

"Um, I don't know if you know this or not, but there's been some disturbances in London and around the countryside. Giant wasps."

"Aye, we've heard about them on the news," Gerald said.

"Well, if I were you, I would take your wife and go on holiday for awhile. The wasps are spreading out and the last thing I want to see is the two of you getting hurt, especially since you've been so kind to Rose here. So, please, take my advice and get out of here until the threat ends."

Gerald nodded.

"We will. Take care of yourselves."

Jack smiled.

"You too. Goodnight, folks."

Gerald and Florence nodded. They followed them to the door and watched as they helped Rose into the back of the SUV. Then, Ianto got in the driver's side while Jack got in beside him. They started the car up and headed off into the night while Gerald closed the door, and turned off the porch light.

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Jack activated his communicator.

"Gwen, we got her, we're on our way home," he said.

He turned it back off and looked behind him. He smiled at Rose who was slumped in the seat half-asleep.

"Rose, hon, before we head back to the Hub, can you show Ianto and me where the hive is located, so we'll know where to come back to when we're ready?"

"Yes," Rose murmured, "turn left, and it's about ten miles away in the middle of a forest."

Jack nodded.

"I need you to try to stay awake then and point it out to us. I know how tired you are, but we need to know where this hive is, so we can save the Doctor."

"Can…we save him?"

Jack and Ianto glanced at each other.

"Owen and Tosh are analyzing the blood samples we took from Jeremy and Monica and they're trying to find a cure that way. They're both brilliant, and I'm sure by the time we get back, they'll have something for us."

"We can't lose the Doctor. It can't end like this."

"It won't, Rose," Jack said, squeezing her hand, "we won't let that bitch have him, and neither will he. He'll do everything he can to resist her too, you can bet that on that!"

Rose nodded, confident that Jack was right about that. She knew that as long as he was able, the Doctor would fight the mutation and that fact kept her hope from dwindling away to nothing.

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"There it is!" Rose said, pointing out the window, "there are the woods. The hive's back in the middle of it, inside a cave."

Ianto slowed the car and pulled over to the side of the road. Both he and Jack got out of the car. They stood side by side near the SUV, staring at the woods.

"Any idea how far we are from London?" he asked Ianto.

"According to the GPS, we're approximately seven miles from the city," he replied.

Jack's jaw clenched along with his fist. He wanted nothing more than to go find the cave right now and get his friend to safety, but without any effective weapons or antidote, it would be a suicide mission and Jack didn't feel like spending the rest of eternity as a gigantic wasp. He stood there for a moment, committing the location to memory before he finally laid a hand on Ianto's shoulder.

"Come on; let's get back to the Hub."

Ianto nodded. The two men turned, got back in the SUV, did a U-turn, and drove off towards Cardiff.


	18. Chapter 18

A/N: This chapter has a couple of small spoilers for Fragments, but nothing major.

Chapter Eighteen

The Queen was extremely frustrated. She had been trying for several hours now to seize control of the Time Lord's mind. But, no matter how hard she pushed, the Doctor pushed back and she kept finding herself hovering on the periphery of his memories, getting a tiny glimpse of his power and knowledge, but never fully able to access it. She had never had a problem accessing the human's minds before, but this Doctor was different, unique. And, it was that uniqueness that made her want him all the more.

She pushed off from her perch and flew over to his cell. She entered it and gazed at him. He was shaking and shivering, his eyes closed and his face scrunched up in agony. Two antennae had sprouted from his forehead and his skin was slightly yellow, but other that that, he still retained his humanoid form. She came towards him. She noticed he had shed his coat and jacket and they were lying behind him in a wad. She knew that her future subjects experienced hot and cold flashes during the metamorphosis, so she assumed he had stripped off the clothes when he had become overheated. She inched forward, keeping an eye on his face. She assumed the pain from the mutation must be unbearable by now, she could tell that from looking at him. Perhaps, she could try again to reason with him, convince him that the only option left for him was to surrender his mind to her and become one with the hive.

She concentrated and reached out once again into his conscious mind. She had flashes of memory, but nothing important. Mostly memories of his time with Rose and some glimpses of what he had been doing in the warehouse just before he had been taken. She tried probing deeper into his subconscious and once again, she was repelled. Buzzing angrily, she telepathically communicated with the Doctor.

_Doctor, it is no use resisting any longer. You are only delaying the inevitable. Surrender your mind to me._

_NO! _

The Doctor's response was so forceful, the Queen's head jerked back. Angered, she buzzed furiously, wanting nothing more than to run her stinger through his hearts and be rid of him. But the temptation to control such a powerful being was stronger than her need to kill him.

She slowly backed out of the cell and flew back to her perch. She knew the Doctor couldn't hold control over his mind forever. With each passing minute, she was gaining more of a foothold into his brain and he was losing more and more of his identity. It wouldn't be much longer before he was her willing servant and then he would order him to find Rose and his friends and kill them.

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Owen and Tosh were working in the laboratory. They looked up when Jack came into the room.

"Is Rose alright?" Owen asked.

"Yeah, she's got some bumps and bruises and her legs are scratched up, but she'll be okay. She's exhausted, so I put her on the couch, so she can take a nap. How about you two, have there been any breakthroughs?"

"Well," Owen said, "we've been studying a sample of Jeremy's blood that we took from him. We used a centrifuge to separate the blood we got and we've been looking at the DNA contained in the white blood cells. Most of his nucleotides had already mutated when we took the sample, but there was still some of his original genetic material left. We've been comparing the two and trying to formulate a way to change the wasp DNA back into human DNA. As far as we can tell, the wasp venom acts like a virus, attacking the DNA and mutating it. We've tried a couple of different things and have had some success altering the nucleotides back to their original state, but only for a short period. We're trying to figure out a way to make the change permanent."

"And are you close to doing that?"

Owen sighed and glanced at Tosh.

"We're making some progress," she said, "but it's been slow and tedious. It may take some time to perfect an antidote. Both of us aren't experts at doing this sort of thing."

"I understand that, guys, but you're gonna have to go faster. The Doctor and everyone else in that hive are counting on us."

"We're trying, Jack," Owen said, "but we can't go much faster. You can have it done quickly or you can have it done right, can't be either way."

"I understand, but the Doctor's life is at stake. It might be too late for some of the people the Queen has taken, but not him. I want you to be accurate, but you need to go faster before it's too late."

Owen sighed, angrily.

"I'm only one man and Tosh is only one woman. We are the only ones out of the five that can do this and we can't conjure up an antidote out of thin air; you'll just have to be patient."

Jack nodded. He knew Owen was right, but he still didn't like it. He knew his friend was strong, much stronger than any human was, but even he wouldn't be able to hold out forever. Watching Jeremy and Monica's transformation had been horrifying. It sickened him to think that the Doctor was undergoing the same transformation, far from the people who cared about him. He ran a hand through his hair. He wished he had enough scientific knowledge to be able to assist them. He was grateful to Owen and Tosh for tackling this and he knew they would keep working until they found a cure, but they weren't robots. Sooner or later, they would need to sleep and once they did, vital seconds would be lost. Knowing that his worrying wasn't doing anyone any good, he went off to find Ianto. Gwen had already gone home for the night and he wanted him to do the same. He had a feeling the wasps would not be back tonight, not when they had what they wanted. He was sure it was safe for him to go home now and he wanted him to, so he could try to get a good night's sleep. He wasn't any use to him or the others, half-awake.

He found Ianto sitting at his desk going over some papers.

"Ianto, go home," Jack said.

He looked at him.

"I don't want to."

"I'm ordering you to go home. There's nothing we can do tonight. If Owen and Tosh have a breakthrough, I will contact you and Gwen, but for now, I want you to go home and get some sleep."

"Sir, I want to…"

Jack laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Ianto, go," he said, firmly.

Ianto looked into his eyes for a moment and then nodded, reluctantly. Sighing, he rose from his chair.

"Thank you," Jack said.

Ianto gathered his papers into a pile and picked them up.

"Jack…I know that I haven't known the Doctor for as long as you have. But, I don't want this change to happen to him any more than you do. I know what Torchwood's mission statement says about him--"

"That is not our mission statement, though. Not anymore," Jack cut in, "It's true that when I first "volunteered" to work here, monitoring his activities, and capturing him was the main purpose. But when I…became head of Torchwood on New Year's Eve, 1999, I changed all that. The Doctor is not a threat, never was, never will be."

Ianto nodded.

"I know that now and he's been a great friend to us. This is why I want to help get him back to normal any way that I can."

Jack smiled.

"Then, you can start by getting some rest and recharging those brain cells of yours. Like I said, if we learn anything new, we will call you and Gwen, but until then, good night."

"Good night, Jack."

He and Jack shared a quick kiss on the lips. Jack squeezed his shoulder and watched while he grabbed his coat and went out the front door. Once the door closed, he turned and started to head back to his office. He paused when he noticed Rose was standing in the doorway, staring at him.

"Rose, I didn't realize you were there," he said.

"I couldn't sleep, so I decided to walk around the Hub and look around," she said.

She came forward.

"You said Owen and Tosh are working on something, what is it?"

Jack put his hands on her shoulders.

"They've analyzed a blood sample we took from Jeremy and they're trying to use the information they found to make an antidote."

"Are they close to making one?"

Jack sighed.

"I'm not sure, Rose. They're trying their best, but neither of them are geneticists. They're using what they know, coupled with the Torchwood database, and probably looking up some information online, but they've told me that it's moving along slowly."

Rose sighed.

"Isn't there anyone you know who could help them out?"

Jack shook his head.

"Gwen doesn't know about genetics and neither does Ianto. I know a little bit, but not enough to help them out. The only other person I know of who could help them is the Doctor."

Rose walked around in a circle.

"And the only thing I can think of that might help is the TARDIS, but the TARDIS is in a warehouse somewhere in London and I don't know how to read Gallifreyan, so we couldn't use the information even if we could access it," she said, sadly.

Jack put his hand on her shoulder.

"Rose, we're doing the best we can. All we can do now is wait and hope that a miracle comes and we'll be able to save the Doctor and everyone else. It does no good to make yourself sick with worry."

He jumped when Rose suddenly banged her fist on the desk.

"I'm such an idiot!" she said.

Jack frowned.

"What do you mean, Rose?" he said.

"This is all my fault, Jack! If I hadn't let the Queen into my head, then you wouldn't have been forced to let me go and the Doctor would be safe now."

"Rose, you had no way of keeping the Queen out of your mind."

"I should have been stronger, Jack. I should have been able to resist her, just like the Doctor could."

"Rose, you're many things, many wonderful things, but you're not superhuman," Jack said, gently, "the Doctor has a more advanced mind than we do. That's not a putdown, Rose. It's just a fact. The Doctor is better equipped than we are to keep others from accessing his mind. I know you think you failed him, Rose. But, you haven't. The Doctor doesn't blame you for this, I know that for a fact. It's not the first time he's been in a situation like this, and it won't be the last. The Doctor did what he did to protect you. When you finally saw him, he didn't jump on you, did he? He didn't blame you for what happened?"

Rose shook her head.

"Well, then, he doesn't blame you in any way. Trust me, if the man is pissed, he lets you know it. The Doctor may be in this Queen's clutches right now, but it won't be for long. I promise you, if we can't find an antidote by tomorrow, we are going to go back to that hive, go in there with guns blazing and get him out. Then, we'll figure out a way to isolate him, so the Queen can't harm us through him and work on the cure. But, we will find a cure, Rose, one way or another. Even if we do have to go out and find the best geneticists in England to help us, we will do what it takes and never stop until he is himself again. Okay?"

Rose nodded. Jack pulled her close and hugged her tight.

"Now, go ahead and go back to sleep, Rose. If something comes up, I'll be sure to tell you too, alright?"

Rose nodded. Jack smiled and gave her a kiss on the forehead. He watched while she turned and walked away, hoping with all his heart that they really would be able to save the Doctor before it was too late.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

The Doctor lay inside his honeycomb in utter agony. He had now acquired a pair of wings and the extra legs were starting to break through. The pain had lessened somewhat and he had managed to keep a hold of his mind but it was getting harder with each passing second and he could sense the queen's frustration at not being able to access it. Despite that, he knew he had to do something before the change was too far gone. He had to get back to the Hub and allow himself to be imprisoned so they could run tests on him and find a cure for him and everyone else. In order to do that, he had to use every last once of mental strength to rouse himself and use his newly created wings to fly out of his prison. While he lay there he concentrated on throwing up several mental blocks shutting the queen out so she couldn't call him back and control him. Then taking a deep breath he concentrated as hard as he could, calling up every last iota of strength within his rapidly changing body. For a few moments nothing happened and then he was finally able to gather enough strength to open his eyes and rise up on his knees. He tried his wings sprouting out of his bare back. He fluttered them getting a feel for them, slowly at first and then faster and faster until finally they were a blur. He groaned and gritted his teeth fighting back the pain and the urge to lie back down and surrender himself to the pain and the darkness and tried to fly. He managed to get a foot off the ground for a minute before he came back down hard on his knees. Gasping, he swallowed hard and tried again. This time he was able to stay aloft and he hovered in his cell for a moment before he came back down on his hands and knees.

He slowly turned around and crawled to the entrance. He peeked out and saw the queen lying quietly on her rock. Her attention was turned away from his cell for the moment while she spoke to a couple of her minions. The Doctor seized the opportunity, flew up and out of the cell and very quickly tried to make his way out of the main hall into one of the tunnels. He succeeded in leaving without her seeing him but he wasn't exactly an expert at flying yet and that coupled with the pain of the mutation nearly caused him to crash into a few stalactites. After a few minutes he finally managed to get enough of a grip on his new ability and he could fly pretty much in a straight line. He headed up and out towards the cave entrance.

Even though he was a novice who needed more practice, he sped out of the cave not wanting to arouse the suspicions of the other wasps in case they were able to spot that hadn't completely turned yet. His back was beginning to stiffen up while he grew his exoskeleton making him uncomfortable and making it hard to maneuver properly but he ignored it wanting nothing more than to get out of the cave and get back to Rose and the others before it was too late.

Finally, he reached the mouth of the cave and flew outside. There were a few wasps around the perimeter but he ignored them as he flew up high into the air above the trees. By this time he had gotten the hang of flying and he turned and headed in the direction of Cardiff hoping against hope that he could make it before the queen knew he was gone or he transformed completely and became her slave.

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Owen shook his head and looked at Tosh.

"I give up, Tosh. This is way beyond me," he said to her. "Jack's gonna have to bring in outside help because I can't figure out what to do. I'm a medical doctor not a geneticist."

Tosh nodded.

"Let's take a break and I'll go find him and tell him," she said.

"Fine by me," he sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

He stood up and stretched his back while Tosh went to find Jack. She found him in his office. He smiled at her.

"How's it goin'?" he asked.

"Jack, we can't do it. Neither Owen nor I have the knowledge required to look at someone's genetic makeup, isolate certain genes and formulate an antidote from it."

He sighed.

"I figured as much. I'm gonna get in touch with a few contacts of mine in London and see if they can find a couple of geneticists or at the very least scientists who can come here and assist us. I appreciate everything you and Owen have done. Go ahead and take a rest and get some sleep. There's nothing more you two can do now."

"I'm sorry, Jack."

He held up his hand.

"There's nothing to be sorry about, Tosh. It was a long shot to begin with and I always figured we'd eventually have to turn to outside help but I wanted to try here first so we could get the antidote as soon as possible. You and Owen did your best and that's all I ask of you guys. Now go and rest, both of you."

She nodded and left the room. Jack sighed and shook his head.

"Damn it. I hope to God we can find someone who can help us before the Doc loses himself completely and comes after us," he said.

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Rose lay in the bed in the spare room Jack had provided for her. She tried to sleep but her mind kept thinking up numerous nightmare scenarios of what might have happened to the Doctor. For the thousandth time since she stumbled out of the woods she cursed herself for leaving her lover behind, all alone and at the mercy of the Swarm queen. She felt sick to her stomach when she remembered the huge gaping wound that the stinger had made and tears came to her eyes thinking of him lying on the floor of the cave in utter anguish. She felt utterly helpless and angry and guilty all at the same time. She tried to close her eyes but the image of him as a wasp kept appearing in her mind's eye and finally she gave up on sleep, got up and got dressed intending to take a walk to calm herself.

She got her socks and shoes on and grabbed her jacket. Slipping it on, she found Jack in his office and told her what she was doing.

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" he said, concerned.

"Yeah, I just need to get some fresh air and think."

"Well, please be careful. At the slightest sign of wasps, get back to the lift, alright?"

She nodded and without further comment, turned and walked away while Jack sighed and shook his head sadly.

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Rose wandered the area around the Hub not really caring where she was going to. She was completely lost in her thoughts at the moment. It was nearing midnight and there were still a few people out but she paid no attention to them. She walked over to the waterfall outside the Wales Millennium Center and stood there staring at it numbly. While she watched it she suddenly became aware of a buzzing sound high above and her blood ran cold. She turned and ran back towards the lift hoping that she could make it in time before she got stung.

"Rose!"

She stopped short when she heard a familiar voice calling out to her. She turned and her throat went dry when the wasp, who still possessed human features, landed nearby and collapsed on the ground. She gasped when she recognized who it was.

"Doctor!" she cried out, running to him.

She fell down beside him. Weeping, she cupped his face and stared into his black eyes. She felt the Doctor run his antennae over her face, feeling her with them.

"Rose, listen to me," he gasped. "I managed to muster up enough strength to escape but I won't last much longer. Go get Jack and have him put me in a cell. They can study me; find a cure…must do it before I lose myself completely."

"Doctor, oh God, Doctor," Rose said, stroking his hair.

"Hurry, Rose, get Jack and get me inside before I lose my control over my mind and the queen possesses me. Don't worry about me; I'll be alright, just go!"

"Wait here," she said.

She kissed him on the cheek before she got up and ran over to the lift.

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Jack finished administering the sedative in his friend's arm while he lay on a cot in one of their cells. He was on his back naked with a blanket covering the lower half of his body and a pillow under his head. Rose knelt beside him, holding his hand and stroking his cheek.

"The queen doesn't know you've done this?" Jack asked him.

He shook his head.

"I don't think so, not yet. She hasn't been in my mind and I'm sure she would have if she found the honeycomb empty. The pain finally lessened enough that I was able to regain control of my mind and get away but it's only a matter of time until I become one of them."

"We won't let that happen. I'm gonna find the best scientists to help us find a cure for this. I won't see you turn into one of them, not like Jeremy and Monica. I'm not about to lose my best friend."

The Doctor began to get sleepy. He looked at the woman he loved through half closed lids, his ebony eyes regarding her silently.

"Thank you for finding me, Rose," he murmured. "I was afraid no one would find me in time and I'd mutate fully before I could get in here."

"I won't leave your side, Doctor."

He smiled.

"You have to, Rose. It's too dangerous for you to be in here. That's why I wanted Jack to lock me up. I know you want to rest with me but I can't risk your safety. Please go, I'll be alright."

Rose swallowed hard and nodded while he stroked her cheek.

"I love you, Doctor."

He smiled.

"I love you too. We'll find a cure, I promise you that. For the moment, I need to rest. I'm half asleep now and getting sleepier by the minute. The sedative will dull the pain of the mutation so don't be afraid that I'm going to be suffering in here."

He held her hand and Rose stroked his hair when he closed his eyes all the way and finally surrendered himself to dreamless sleep. Rose kissed the top of his head and nuzzled it. Then she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up at Jack.

"Come on, Rose," he said tenderly.

Rose nodded. Giving him one last kiss on the cheek, she pulled the covers up around him and left the cell with Jack. Jack locked it and she followed him back to his office so they could figure out what to do.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty

After talking with Rose for awhile, Jack tried to get her to calm down and go to sleep telling her it was no use fretting about him when there was nothing they could do at present.

"Just be glad he's here and out of danger, Rose," he said. "Who knows what the queen was doing to him in that hive. If he's here at least he's safe in the Hub and he has a fighting chance of being cured…and we don't have to fight a swarm of angry wasps to get to him."

"But what if we can't cure him, Jack? What if the same thing happens that happened with Jeremy and Monica? What if she's able to affect my mind through him and get me to take him back to the hive?"

He shook his head. "Not gonna happen this time. There's no way you're gonna leave here and neither is he, even if we have to keep him heavily sedated." He leaned back in his chair. "Besides, I have a feeling Doc won't let that happen. He's no ordinary person and he's managed to fight her influence this far when everyone else had succumbed. I have a feeling even as a wasp there'll still be some part of him left."

"I wish I could go in there and be with him."

He shook his head. "No. Doc's right. It's too risky, Rose. If he isn't able to fight the mind control then the first one he'll sting is you and that would kill him if you turned into a wasp and became the queen's slave. No, I forbid it. You can talk to him through the Plexiglas and be with him that way but I won't let you sleep right at his side and he wouldn't permit that either. He'd be the first to tell you to get out."

He took her hand. "Rose, I understand how much you love him. I do too. But until he's completely free of this mutation and has his mind clear of the queen's influence, it's just not safe. Please, respect both our wishes and keep yourself safe."

She nodded. "Can I go and sleep by his cell so he'll see me when he wakes?"

He nodded. "I'll set up a camp bed right beside it and you can lay there and watch over him."

She smiled. "Thank you, Jack."

He took her hand and squeezed it. "No problem. That request I have no problem granting. It'll probably help the Doc if you're there where he can see ya. Remind him of why he needs to hold on and fight this. Come with me and we'll get you set up for the night."

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Jack found a canvas camp bed in the storage room. He set it up right in front of the Plexiglas and laid a fresh sheet over it. He got a blanket and pillow and put it there. While he was doing that, Rose looked in at her lover. He was sleeping peacefully and for that, she was glad since she was sure he had been through hell the past couple of days. She heard a growling in a cell nearby and noticed Janet was staring at them and baring her fangs. Jack glanced at her.

"Hope you can sleep with her doing that," he said, gesturing to her.

"I will. I'm knackered anyway," she replied.

He nodded, took her by the arms and kissed her forehead. "If you need anything I'll be in my office," he said.

She nodded and he gave her a warm smile before he turned and left her alone. Rose took her shoes off and laid them at the end of the camp bed before she got under the covers and turned on her side towards the Doctor. She put her hand up against the Plexiglas while she stared at him.

"I'm here, my love," she whispered. "I won't let anyone hurt you again. I'll keep you safe from the queen even if I have to die or become one of them. I swear that to you."

She stared at him for a half hour longer before she finally fell into an exhausted sleep.

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"Rose?"

Rose's eyes fluttered open and she noticed the Doctor was right on the other side of the Plexiglas staring at her. He was on his knees with the blanket covering his private parts, his antennae moving around feeling the glass in front of him. She put her hand up to the glass and he did the same while he stared at her.

"Do you need some sedatives?" she asked softly.

"Yes, but not yet. I need to talk to Jack. Can you please go get him for me?"

She nodded and got up. She hurried to find Jack while the Doctor watched her go.

"Hey, buddy," Jack said when he walked up to the Plexiglas. "You're awake."

The Doctor nodded.

"Rose said you didn't want a sedative yet, why?"

"You're studying the samples from Jeremy and Monica?"

"We were. We were trying to isolate the mutant gene and make an antidote but Tosh and Owen couldn't do it."

"Let me see them. I will succeed where they failed and make the antidote."

Jack and Rose glanced at each other.

"You want us to bring the samples to you?"

"If that's feasible. If not, you'll have to let me out to work."

"Well, there's a bunch of equipment involved. Heavy equipment and it would be too much to carry into your cell."

"Then you must trust me and let me out. Lock me up in the lab if you must but let me try to formulate a cure before I'm too far gone."

"Are you sure you'll be able to hold off the queen?" Jack said worriedly.

"Not entirely sure but we have no choice. I'm the best hope of finding a cure and I want to try. I give you permission to do anything necessary to stop me if my mind does become incapacitated or enslaved including kill me if necessary."

"I want to help, Doctor," Rose said.

"Rose, no."

"Yes, Doctor, you need an assistant and that's my main function. To be your companion and assistant. I'm not scared of ya. I know you'd never hurt me. If you have my help It'll go faster. Please let me do it."

The Doctor stared at her quietly for a moment. "Do you have anything that she can use to protect herself with, should I turn?" he asked Jack.

"We have a tazer she can use or CS gas."

"Give them to her. I want her armed just in case. I don't like her doing this if there's a risk of me losing my mind but she's right, I need a helper and you can't do it since you have a team to head. Rose is my assistant, so I'm gonna use her in that capacity."

He looked at her. "But hear me, Rose. If I let you do this you must give your word that at the first sign of trouble you will drop what you're doing and leave me. Don't try to reason with me. Just go and worry about yourself. Is that a deal?"

"Yes, Doctor, it's a deal."

"Good. Now, let me go ahead and get started. Time is of the essence here."

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After clearing everything that was blocking the door and getting some underwear and his trousers on, Jack let him out. He gave him an injection of a mild painkiller. Not enough to knock him out but enough that he wouldn't have to suffer the agony of his mutation while he worked. He led them both to the lab and he, Rose and the rest of the team moved their work into it while the Doctor got himself familiarized with the lab equipment.

"Good luck, Doc," Jack said when they were done.

"Thanks, I'm gonna need it."

Jack patted him on the shoulder and they left him and Rose alone locking the door behind them.

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For the rest of the day the Doctor busied himself with finding a cure while Rose helped him out with whatever he needed done. While she did it she kept an eye on him and when the painkillers wore off she pressed an intercom and summoned Jack to get him more. The more the day wore on the more she got used to his half wasp state and the less it distressed her that he was now hovering between being a humanoid and an insect. For the moment he seemed to have his wits above him and she was thankful for that since she had seen what became of Jeremy and Monica. The fact that he was searching for a cure filled her with hope that he could be cured and in return cure everyone else.

After 6 hours the Doctor leaned back on his stool and rubbed his eyes. Rose walked up beside him and put her hand on his shoulder. The Doctor smiled, reached up and gave the hand a couple of loving pats. He looked up at her.

"Thank you, Rose. Thank you for being my assistant."

She smiled."You don't have to thank me. I love doing it. I'd do anything for you, Doctor."

His smile widened and he kissed the back of her hand. "I've managed to isolate the mutating gene," he told her as he took her hand. "Now I can look at it closely and see if I can synthesize a cure."

"I hope so," Rose said. She ran the back of her hand down his left cheek. "Has she tried to contact you? The queen, I mean."

He shook his head. "Oddly enough, no. Unless she tried while I was sedated. In which case I was too out of it to respond back. I put some mental blocks around my mind before I left which I hope will continue to keep her out. So far they've worked. She's tried desperately to reach the inner recesses of my mind without success and I'm not gonna make it easy for her, not by a long shot."

"But if…if you do change all the way," Rose said, swallowing hard. "Will you still be able to be yourself?"

He smiled at her. "I don't know, angel. I'm not planning on letting it go that far," he said. "I would have escaped sooner but the first half of the mutation was so excruciating I couldn't think well enough to concentrate on getting out of there, not to mention I was fighting a constant war with the queen for my mind and fending her off took a lot out of me. I think the worse of it is over. The antennae, the wings and my extra legs are probably the most painful part of the process. Course I haven't had my stinger come out yet."

He took her hand. "Don't worry, Rose. I have step one of the antidote out of the way. I'll finish what I've started without freaking out and attacking everyone."

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The queen lay on her rock surveying her hive. Every so often a new worker would emerge from their honeycomb and join their brother and sisters in maintaining the hive. A new mind that served her and only her. It pleased her that the repopulation of her hive was going so smoothly. There was only element out of place in her orderly world…the Doctor. She glanced over at his honeycomb and lifted off from her perch to check on his progress. With each passing hour he was losing more and more of himself and becoming like her and her children and she felt certain that soon his mind would be hers to control.

She reached the honeycomb, went inside and froze when she noticed that no one was in it. The top half of his suit and shirt was lying in the corner but other than that there was no sign of him. Buzzing angrily, the queen backed out and flew all around searching for him. She didn't find anything and she tried his mind but to her frustration found that it was blocked so thoroughly that she couldn't even access his surface memories.

_No,_ she thought, _he can't have escaped. Not when I'm so close to possessing him forever._

She flew back to her rock and sent a mental command to her hive.

_My children, the Doctor has escaped. Find him and bring him back to me alive. Search everywhere especially the places he has been known to frequent. Bring your brother back to me, children, before he finds a way to destroy us all!_


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty One

The Doctor busied himself in the lab while Rose continued to help him. By now, his skin had a yellowish tinge to it and he no longer could sit on the stool because a large bump was coming out of his tailbone. Rose was not only terrified about the new changes happening to him but also the fact that he was denying himself any sedatives in order to keep his mind lucid. He was trying to hide his pain and discomfort from her but she could see he was in severe pain. Finally, she couldn't take it any longer and she stopped him while he was trying to combine a chemical with a sample of his blood.

"Doctor, please, you can't go on like this. I know you're in pain," Rose said to him. "Please let Jack give you a sedative."

He shook his head.

"I can't Rose; I need to keep my mind clear now so I won't make a mistake. I'll be alright. I'm mentally controlling the pain to the point I can function."

Rose felt helpless as she stared at his rapidly yellowing skin. His eye sockets also seemed to be widening and she thought she saw the start of mandibles growing out of the sides of his mouth. For the first time since they started, hopelessness began to creep in and she feared that the Doctor would become a mindless wasp before he was finished with a cure. The Doctor gazed into his lover's eyes, reading them like a book. Realizing how much fear was there; he put his hands to her cheeks and leaned in to give her a kiss on the lips. Rose returned the kiss as her eyes misted over.

"I won't lose, Rose," he said when he finished the kiss. "This gorgeous body isn't going to turn into a big ol' wasp, do you hear me?"

Rose swallowed and nodded.

"But…what if you're wrong?" she said.

"Then I'll fight the queen myself," he said. "I'll fight her or die trying. She may take my body but my mind is far more powerful and she'll never have that."

He kissed her forehead.

"And I will always know who you are, no matter what happens. Even if I become a wasp, I will still remember you and I will never, never hurt you or give you up to the queen, okay?"

"Yeah," Rose said, nodding.

The Doctor gave her another kiss on the forehead and went back to his experiment while Rose stood nearby and watched him silently.

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Jack glanced up when Owen entered his office.

"Hey, how's everything going? How's the Doctor? Is he alright?" Jack asked him.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," Owen said.

"Yes?" Jack said.

Owen sighed and grabbed a chair.

"Look," he said, sitting down in front of Jack's desk, "I don't claim to be an expert on these wasp creatures but I know enough about them now to know that the Doctor isn't going to last much longer before he becomes one and not only is letting him continue to work in that lab unwise but we're putting Rose in jeopardy by letting her stay in there with him."

"The Doctor knows what he's doing," Jack said to him.

"Are you sure about that?" Owen said, cocking an eyebrow. "I admit he's managed to stay himself longer than anyone else has but are you sure he's not ignoring the change while he's racing to come up with a cure? I've been watching him, Jack, and listening. He's denying himself sedatives now so he can keep a clear head and keep going with his experiments. His skin is now yellow and it's gonna start turning into a hard exoskeleton before too long. His extra legs are now fully formed and from what I heard of his and Rose's conversation, the stinger is starting to emerge. I realize I'm not the Doctor's doctor but he is in this building putting us and Rose at risk and if I think he's a danger then I'm going to order him back into his cell before we all end up stung."

Jack sighed and folded his hands in his lap while he thought that over.

"I agree with you about taking precautions but this is the Doctor we're talking about and good luck getting him to do anything he doesn't want to do."

"Then I'll shoot him with the tranquilizing gun," Owen said. "I'm not gonna spare yours or Rose's feelings because personally I don't wanna turn into a big, bleedin' wasp and start terrorizing the countryside. If the Doctor won't listen then I'll knock him out and if I have to knock Rose out to prevent her from stopping me, I'll do that as well."

Jack sighed and nodded.

"Just keep an eye on him, Owen, and make sure he doesn't become a danger to himself or Rose or to us," he said.

Owen nodded. Jack watched as he rose from his chair. The moment he left the office, Jack put his elbows on his desk and lowered his head into his hands.

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Rose was worried. She could tell that the Doctor was in extreme pain. Sweat beads were forming on his brow and his jaw was tight while he tried another chemical on his blood. Occasionally he would stop to write his findings down on a pad of paper before going back to the blood sample.

Finally Rose couldn't bear it any longer. The Doctor had a sheet tied around his waist like a loincloth. It was the only thing he had on him and Rose knew that stinger was slowly working its way out of his tailbone. While he looked at his blood sample through the microscope she went around him, bent down and looked. She gasped when she saw the sharp end of the stinger had broken through the skin and was now jutting out about five inches from his body.

"Don't touch it, Rose, whatever you do," the Doctor said, glancing at her.

Rose dropped the sheet and let out a sob when she realized that there wasn't much time left. The Doctor took her by the arms and forced her to look into his eyes which were now unnaturally large and were starting to segment into compound eyes.

"No, you mustn't lose hope, do you hear me?" he said to her.

"But the change is coming faster now and you're still no closer to finding a cure," Rose said.

The Doctor stared at her intently as his antenna brushed over her face.

"You're right, it is speeding up," he conceded. "I've tried not to think about that but I can't deny it any longer."

"Then what are we going to do?" Rose said as he stroked her cheek.

The Doctor lost himself in thought for a moment while Rose gazed at him. She ran her hand down his chest and shuddered when she felt the smooth skin starting to harden into an exoskeleton.

"No, it can't end this way. It can't," she murmured to herself.

The Doctor's eyes settled on her and he ached when he saw her distress.

"I'm sorry, Rose, I'm not able to work fast enough, especially if the process is speeding up now," he said.

Rose shook her head, not wanting to accept the truth that she was about to lose the man she loved forever. The Doctor pulled her close and Rose carefully wrapped her arms around him, making sure to go up under his delicate wings. The Doctor lowered his head to her scalp and Rose shuddered when she felt the ends of the new mandibles brushing against her hair.

"Rose, do you trust me?" the Doctor asked her.

Rose let out a shuddering laugh.

"I'm in here with ya, aren't I?" she said.

The Doctor smiled at that.

"Yes, you are. You've been faithful to me all this time and never doubted me and that's why I need you to trust me now."

"I do. I trust you completely," Rose said softly.

"Then come with me. We need to get away from here before the wasps find me," he said. "We need to find a way to fight back and finish the queen off once and for all."

"But…your cure…"

"I won't be able to finish it in time, Rose. I wrote down my findings while I was doing it in the hopes that Jack or someone else might be able to finish what I started. All I know is we can't be here when the wasps catch up to me or all of you will end up stung to death. I want you to come with me so I can hide you since the queen will most likely try to have you kidnapped to lure me out of hiding. But you have to trust that I won't hurt you and I won't. I'll always know who you are, no matter what."

"I trust you," Rose murmured. "Please take me with you, wherever you go."

The Doctor nodded.

"Then come, angel. There's not a moment to lose," the Doctor said as he took her hand and they headed towards the lab door.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty Two

"Hurry, Rose, we need to get away from here," the Doctor said as he led her through the Hub.

The nearly made it to the cog door when they heard someone clearing his throat. They turned to see Owen with his arms folded over his chest.

"And where are you going?" he asked them.

The Doctor hurried over to him.

"I can't do it. I won't be able to find a cure in time. The queen probably has figured out by now I've scarpered and I need to get far away from here because I'm sure this'll be the first place she sends the troops."

"Okay, but what about Rose?"

"I'm going to hide her somewhere where she'll be safe."

"Mate, you're about to turn into a wasp, don't you think she'll be safer with us?" Owen said, "especially since you're not gonna have your mind for very much longer."

"On the contrary, I intend to keep my mind long after my body has gone."

"Really? Well didn't you also say you'd be able to come up with a cure before it was too late. If you were wrong about that, what makes you think you won't be wrong about your mind going?"

"I trust him," Rose said, coming forward. "I know that even if he can't think for himself anymore, he'll know who I am. I've always felt safe with the Doctor and I always will."

"Love, I admire your devotion to your sweetie but look at him, he's changing right before your very eyes and he's not gonna be himself for much longer. Wake up and smell the coffee before you end up just like him."

Rose took hold of the Doctor's right arm.

"I'd rather end up like him than be apart from him forever," she said.

"Fine, fine, you wanna risk gettin' stung, be my guest," Owen said.

He reached into his pocket and handed her a small plastic bag filled with white pills.

"These are the seditives. I have a feelin' he's gonna need em," he said.

Rose took the bag from him and put it in her pocket.

"Thank you, Owen, and now we have to go before it's too late," the Doctor said.

"Too late for what?"

They looked up as Jack and the rest of the Torchwood team came into the room.

"You're leaving?" Jack said.

"I have to, Jack. I'm not gonna be able to find a cure in time and I'm putting all of you in danger by being here."

"Yeah, but Rose...she's going with you?"

The Doctor sighed.

"Owen, explain, I really don't have time, yeah?" he said, turning to leave.

"Doc, wait!" Jack said running over to him. "Don't go."

The Doctor saw the anguish in his friend's eyes and put a hand on his shoulder.

"This is for the best. I promise I'll find a way back to my normal self but for now we have to go before the wasps find us here. In the meantime, my notes for my experiments are on a pad of paper by the microscope. Hopefully you can use them to find a solution."

Jack ran his hand through his hair.

"I will but...just...keep in touch somehow and don't you dare let Rose get hurt, you hear me?"

"I will and I won't. Now can we go?"

Jack nodded. He bit his lip, keeping the tears back as the Doctor and Rose went through the cog door and headed out of the Hub.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once they were outside, the Doctor threw off the blanket exposing himself to the night air.

"No comments," he said, pointing his finger at Rose.

Rose grinned in spite of herself and the Doctor kissed her forehead.

"Hold on to me now, tightly. I'm gonna fly and it'll take awhile to get used to passengers," he said to her.

Rose wrapped her arms around his neck and the Doctor pulled her in close. She gasped when she felt his penis against her. The Doctor grinned at that.

"Now don't be gettin' ideas about my other stinger, Rose Tyler," he said to her.

He smiled when Rose let out a soft laugh at that.

"We'll be alright, Rose. Somehow this'll work out for the best, you'll see. Just keep your hope alive for me."

"I will," Rose said.

The Doctor nodded. He held Rose tightly to him, vibrated his wings and rose into the night air with her.

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Jack slammed his hand down on the table beside the Doctor's notes. His team was standing behind him.

"Damn it, if I find the queen, I'm gonna break her neck," Jack snarled.

He sighed and picked up the pad of paper. He studied it for a moment and handed it to Owen.

"You think you might be able to make sense of this?" he asked them.

"I can try but like I said before I'm a doctor, not a geneticist," Owen said.

"I'll assist you in any way that I can," Jack said.

"Same here," Tosh added.

The others echoed the same thing and Jack smiled.

"See, that's the old team spirit. Working together, we'll be able to find a cure in no time and..."

Suddenly an alarm went off and they heard a loud bang up near the front entrance. They ran out of the lab and hurried over to their computers. Jack checked the CCTV camera mounted beside the front entrance and his face drained of color when he saw two wasps trying to bash their way inside the door.

"We got company, team! Let's show these wasps what happen when you mess with Torchwood!" he yelled.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, the Doctor was flying Rose out of Cardiff and into the countryside. Rose clung tightly to him trying to ignore the fact that his chest was now hard and bright yellow like the rest of this skin. The Doctor had wrapped his arms and his two extra legs around her keeping her secure. The moon was out and Rose couldn't help but think that any other time it would be a romantic sight but the fact that her lover was now almost a gigantic wasp killed that notion completely.

Suddenly the Doctor let out a groan and began to sink towards the ground.

"Doctor?"Rose said panicking.

"Ah!" the Doctor cried out in pain.

Rose's heart raced when she saw the grimace on his face as they went down towards a grassy hill.

"Doctor, I have the sedatives," Rose said to him.

"No," the Doctor grunted as he fought to land safely. "Not that. It's the wasps, they're nearby. I can feel the hive mind getting stronger. I mustn't...lose control."

He landed and let go of Rose. He sank to his knees grimacing as he fought to keep the hive mind from asserting itself. Rose, terrified for him, fell to the ground next to him and watched helplessly as he fought the pressure to become one with the other wasps. By now, the stinger was about halfway out of his body, jet black with a sharp point. The Doctor grabbed the sides of his head as he fought for his mind. Watching her lover struggle, Rose couldn't help the tears the streaked down her face. At a loss as to what to do, she put her left hand on the back of his neck and rubbed it, trying to give him a little bit of comfort in his time of agony.

"Rose," he grunted out. "If I fail, you must run from me. Don't let me hurt you. I don't wanna hurt you. I love you so much!"

The tears came faster now as the Doctor squeezed the sides of his head until Rose thought he would squeeze his head in.

"I know their plans...I can hear them speaking to the queen," he grunted out. "We were right to escape. Going...to Torchwood...swarm of them."

Rose's fear increased and she said a silent prayer the Jack and the others would be safe. The Doctor's agony finally let up briefly and he let out a gasp as he took his hands away from his head.

"They've moved on into the city and the hive mind has dimmed, at least for now," he said in a weary voice.

He took Rose's hand and squeezed it when he saw how distressed she was.

"I'm sorry, Rose. This is why we need to get away from the hive. The closer I am to it or the other wasps, the stronger the pull on my mind. Damn it, damn their hold on me and damn the pain I'm in."

He held up his hand when Rose started to reach for the bag.

"No, Angel, I definately need to be lucid if I'm flying with you in my arms. We'll find a safe spot for tonight and once I'm sure we're out of danger then I'll take one."

Rose nodded. They stood up and the Doctor embraced her when she put her arms around his neck.

"I just hope Jack and the others are able to stand the assault on the Hub," he muttered.

He looked up at the sky and when he saw it was clear, he tightened his hold on Rose and they flew up into the sky.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty Three

The Doctor held Rose tightly as he flew with her deeper into Cardiff. He avoided going towards London since he figured they would look for them there and he knew that the hive was between there and Cardiff and after fighting off the collective force of the hive mind, he had no desire to go anywhere near it in his state. He could feel the influence of the hive mind lessening but at the same time he could feel the metamorphosis speeding up. So he headed off towards what he thought was Swansea so he could hide Rose there because for the first time since being stung he no longer trusted himself around her.

Another intense stabbing pain shot through his body and he gently landed near a forest so he could get the pain back under control.

"Doctor? Are you alright?"

The Doctor held up his hand in a gesture of reassurance and noticed that his fingers were starting to fuse together and resembled the Vulcan live long and prosper gesture. His skin was now beginning to get black markings on it in addition to the yellow and he couldn't help but be fascinated by the changes taking place in his own body. He noticed a small lake nearby and flew over to it to get a better look at himself. Once he landed he bent over and stared at his reflection. His face was wider now, his cheeks were puffed out as if he had the mumps and his eyes had grown larger, almost cartoon-like while his nose was shrinking away. The mandibles had grown larger and the sides of his mouth had stretched out to accommodate them. In addition to the black on his hands he now had black around his eyes and black streaks on his cheeks. His stinger was now out all the way, the toes on his feet were fusing together like his fingers, his wings looked like they had lengthened and his waist was shrinking, giving him a kind of hourglass shape as if he had put on a corset and tied it as tight as he could. Even though he was horrified at the changes, he was also fascinated as if he was watching a horrific car wreck and he turned his head and body from side to side staring at every inch of himself.

Once he was done with his inspection, he flew back over to Rose who wasn't as calm as he was.

"Oh God," she said when he sat down and lay down on his side to avoid his stinger going into the ground. "Doctor, does it hurt?"

"Not szzzo much anymore," he spoke with a slight buzzing to his words. "Itzzz, kinda fazzzinating, Rozzze. You ever szzzee that Jeff Goldblum film, The Fly?"

Rose shook her head as the Doctor adjusted his body to make himself more comfortable.

"It wazzzn't azz good azz the original film but the premizzze wazz that Jeff Goldblum'szzz character was a szzzientizzzst who dizzzcovered the szzecret of teleportation. When he tried to go through, a fly got caught with him and they fuzzzzed into one being. And for the rezzzst of the film, he szzlowly began to change into a gigantic fly. Like me, it szztarted out szzlowly at firzzzst and then szzzped up. But he was fazzzzinated by the changezzzz and now I underszztand why becauzzze I'm the szzame way."

Rose wasn't sure how to answer that so she kept silent, watching in anguish as the Doctor examined his hand. She didn't find anything fascinating about what he was going through, it horrified her that he was now more insect than man and she couldn't understand how he was so calm when he was about to lose himself forever. She reached out tentatively and touched his cheek which was now beginning to harden just like the rest of his body. The Doctor glanced up from his hand, saw her distress and laid his hand against hers. He beckoned to her and Rose lay down in the same reclining position as him and lay there quietly while the Doctor brushed her face with his antenna.

"Rozzze, I'll be alright, you'll szzzee," he said softly.

"Doctor, I have a request to make," she said to him.

"Yeszz?"

"If there's no way to bring you back from this, sting me so I can be with you."

"No, I won't do that."

"Doctor, I won't let you be alone and let you spend the rest of your life as a giant wasp."

"And I won't let you become like me. Rozze, you don't dezzzerve thizzz fate."

"And you do?" Rose said incredulous.

"Better me than you," the Doctor said.

Rose's face crumpled and the Doctor pulled her close while she buried her face in his hardening chest.

"I'll take you to Szzwanszzea where you'll be szzafe," he said to her.

"What about you?" Rose asked, looking up at his face.

"Don't worry about me. Only your szzafety matterszz now," he said.

He watched while Rose ran her hand down his chest and along his right side finally stopping when her hand went into the large groove his shrinking waist had made. He hadn't told Rose but with each passing moment he felt the queen gaining more of a hold on him and he knew distance wasn't going to matter for very much longer. Even though he was in pain, he needed to get Rose to Swansea and get away from her before he did turn on her and sting her. The last thing he wanted was for Rose to go through what he was going through. He slowly stood up, taking care not to get his stinger caught and urged Rose to get up with him.

"We have to go. Time izzz szzzhort," he said to her.

"But…you have to get help for yourself. You can't let this happen. You can't let the change…"

"No time to argue, Rozzze, juszzzt hold on to me," he said to her.

Rose sighed and wrapped his arms around his neck while his arms and extra legs closed around her securing her to his body. He glanced up at the sky and then took off into it while Rose lay her head against his shoulder and silently cried.

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"Damn it, we can't hold out much longer!" Jack yelled as the front door nearly was knocked off its hinges.

He and the entire team were trying to secure it, putting desks, chairs, filing cabinets, anything heavy that could be used to block the door but the wasps were relentless and now they heard more than just two, their frantic buzzing deafening them and making it hard for them to hear each other unless they yelled.

"We won't last much longer," Ianto yelled. "I think we're gonna have to retreat!"

"I think you're right!" Jack screamed. "Okay, everyone grab some smoke bombs, we're going up the lift and if they see us as we run to our car, throw the bombs at them!"

They all hurried back towards the lift.

"Ianto, you, Gwen and Tosh go first," he said, handing him a semi-automatic rifle and handing the women tranquilizer guns along with the smoke bombs. "Get them to the car and contact us when you're ready. Owen and I will follow you."

Ianto nodded and they put the communicators on their ears before they stepped onto the lift. As it went up, they glanced up at Myfanwy who was agitated and flying around over their heads.

"I would send her out there if I thought she'd come back in afterwards," Jack said to Owen as he pointed up at her.

The lift stopped up at street level and all three of them stood and watched the bees. The ones who weren't attacking the Hub were flying around nearby keeping watch.

"Um…are you sure we can make it to the car in one piece?" Tosh asked, pointing to the sentinels.

Ianto glanced over and saw the car parked about twenty feet from the lift.

"Gwen, Tosh, go and I'll distract them," he said.

They stared at him horrified.

"Ianto, look at them. They'll be on ya in seconds," Gwen said.

"That's a risk I'll have to take. We can't stand here all night, they're about to break inside the Hub. Just go. I'll be alright."

He gave them a brave smile and both women touched his cheeks before they took a deep breath, counted to three and ran for the car. The sentinels spotted them and buzzed loudly to alert the others before three of them took off in pursuit. Ianto stayed where he was, taking advantage of the fact that they couldn't see him and when they were close enough, he threw a smoke bomb which exploded right in front of them. The wasps stopped short and buzzed angrily as a wall of smoke flew up in front of them. Ianto threw another one and it exploded under them sending up more smoke. By now the wasps were backing up, trying to avoid the smoke as a few others came to see what was going on. Ianto smirked and three another smoke bomb at them and it exploded throwing up more smoke. When he felt sure that the wasps were thoroughly confused, he grabbed his gun and the two remaining smoke bombs and fled towards Gwen and Tosh who were sitting in the SUV waiting for him.

"Jack, go now! We're not gonna have much time before they overwhelm the car!" Ianto said into the communicator.

He threw the last two smoke bombs behind him as he ran up to the passenger side and got in. By now, ten wasps were buzzing around, trying to see their prey though the smoke and fight off the disorientation. Ianto rolled down the window as Gwen drove up and fired his gun up into the air repeatedly, scattering the frightened wasps and forcing them back. When they drove through the smoke, they could see Jack and Owen standing on the lift watching them. Gwen drove up so the door to the back seat was directly beside them. Jack and Owen threw five more smoke bombs at the wasps before Jack opened the door, ushered Owen inside and got in. Ianto rolled up the window and Gwen made a tight U turn, speeding away before the wasps could regroup and attack them.

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The queen lay on her rock, agitated beyond belief. Not only was the Doctor still resisting her when she should have been able to possess his mind long ago but now his friends were able to escape their headquarters. A few of the wasps who ventured inside the Hub had found nothing but an angry pterodactyl who tangled with them and managed to avoid being stung as she chased them away. Knowing that no one was in the building now including the Doctor and Rose, the queen ordered the bulk of her children away save for two sentries who were to remain inside the Hub in case they returned.

She sensed the Doctor's mind, sensed how tantalizingly close it was to being hers and yet he kept on resisting. She knew now he was the only one who would be perfect for mating with her. With a mind like that, she could breed a race of wasps who were not only strong but super intelligent. A new super race of wasps that would quickly conquer other planets and possibly the galaxy. Her antenna flicked as she thought of her children spreading across the stars, becoming the dominant life force in the universe and wiping out the warm bloods and other inferior species once and for all.

_Resist if you can, my Doctor and wear yourself out doing it,_ she thought to herself. _You are nearly complete and then your struggles will be over and I will possess you, mind and body, for the rest of your life._


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty Four

The Doctor sat Rose down on the ground about thirty miles outside of Swansea and rested for a moment. The pain was almost unbearable and he was beginning to lose focus as the Queen's mind asserted itself. He didn't think he would have much longer before he lost himself completely. What little of himself he had left was rapidly fading away and he knew in probably little less than an hour, the change would be complete.

"I can't," he said to her. "I can't go on. I muszzt leave you now."

"No! Stay with me," Rose begged, "Don't go. We'll find a way…"

"No, it'szzz too late for me. I'm barely able to keep a grip on my mind and the change iszzz nearly complete. I won't be able to make it into Szzzwanszzzea. Rozzzze, you muszzzt find a way. Try to find szzzomeone who'll take you into the city and give you szzzhelter."

"No, please, it can't end like this," Rose said, nearly on the verge of tears, "don't go. Don't go back to the Queen. She'll never let you leave."

"Rozzze, in an hour or lesszzz, it won't matter. I won't have my mind anymore," the Doctor said as gently as he could.

"Then sting me too. Let me change so I can be with you."

"No, I won't. I can't."

"Please, I don't…I can't…live without you," Rose said.

The Doctor, fighting with all his might to stem off the Queen's influence, gathered her into his arms and held her near while she cried. His antenna brushed over her hair, smelling the scent of her shampoo, a scent the Doctor was determined to commit to memory.

"Ring Jack and tell him where you are. Go and join his Torchwood and carry on the fight," the Doctor urged. "Jack and the otherszzz will look after you and keep you szzzafe for me."

"I won't let you go," Rose said in a determined voice.

"You muszzt, my Rozzze. Pleaszzze, reszzzpect my wiszzzheszzz and let me go now."

Rose reluctantly pulled away from him. The Doctor cupped her cheeks with his fuzed fingers and stared deeply into her face.

"I love you, Rozzze, alwayszzz remember that," he said.

"I love you too," Rose said in a choked voice.

The Doctor tried to smile but his hard exoskeleton wouldn't allow it. Instead he swept his antenna over her face, smelling her one more time. Rose wept and held his hand while he got up onto his hand and all four legs. He looked at her.

"Tell Jack if you szzzee him that if he recognizzzes me, not to give me any quarter. In lesszzz than an hour, I won't even know who he iszzz anymore. Do you understand me?"

"Yes," Rose said.

He started to back away but Rose took hold of the sides of his face and leaned in, kissing the spot between his eyes and laying her forehead there while the Doctor brushed his antenna against the back of her head. Then, with great force of will, she let go and the Doctor stared at her for a few seconds more before turning around and with a loud buzz, flying up into the night sky away from her. Sobbing, Rose reached into the pocket of her jeans and pulled out her mobile so she could call Jack and give him the news.

* * *

"Okay," Jack said as he slowed the SUV on the motorway heading towards Swansea and pulled off the road, "I think we lost em for the moment."

"But it's only a matter of time," Owen said. "Now they won't stop until they find us and kill us."

"I know, that's where we gotta find somewhere safe. I have some of samples of the Doctor's blood and a couple of samples of the antidote. We need to try to find someone who can analyze it and try to come up with a cure before it's too late."

"And what if it is too late?" Gwen asked.

Jack swallowed hard. He didn't want to think about battling his changed friend, much less killing him. He knew the Doctor would want him to destroy him if he was beyond help but Jack was no quitter. He refused to believe that the Doctor and everyone else were beyond help, not until he had absolute proof of that. Until then, he was going to do everything in his power to turn the Doctor back into his old self and find a way to defeat the Queen.

He heard his mobile ring and he reached into his pocket for it.

"Harkness," he said when he pushed the talk button.

He heard someone sobbing.

"Jack?"

"Rose? Where are you?" Jack said as the others glanced at each other. "Where's the Doctor? Is he alright?"

"No," Rose said sobbing, "he's gone, Jack. He left me. He's…nearly changed and he didn't want to hurt me so he left."

Jack's heart began to race as his fears that they might be too late plagued his mind.

"Where are you, Rose?"

"Probably about thirty miles outside Swansea. The Doctor tried to get there before the Queen took over his mind but…he couldn't…make it."

"We're in the SUV heading for Swansea. We made it out of the Hub but the wasps surrounded us and I'm sure they busted in."

"Oh God…" Rose murmured.

"Are you near the M4? We're on the M4 right now," Jack said.

"Um…no, I can't see any motorway. I'm in a field near a forest."

"Are there any houses nearby? Somewhere you can go for shelter and wait there, like you did when you escaped the hive?"

There was a long pause. Jack could hear her breathing into the phone.

"Are you looking around?" Jack asked after a moment's silence from her.

"Yeah, I think I see a house off in the distance, Jack."

"Go to it and see if the owners will let you stay inside. At the very least, ask where you are so we can come and get you, alright?"

"Yes," Rose said.

"And Rose, don't give up hope, not yet. There still might be a chance to save the Doctor and everyone else. Just don't panic and don't worry. Just go towards the house and find shelter, okay?"

"Okay."

"I'll see you later, Rose. Be careful," Jack said.

"You too."

She hung up the phone and Jack sighed as he put his mobile back in his pocket, turned off the car, shut off the headlights and all of them sat and waited for Rose to call them back.

______________

The Doctor felt his will slipping away, he knew he had only minutes left until the Queen controlled him completely. He was flying back towards Cardiff and landed briefly, knowing that he had one last chance to save Rose, Jack and Torchwood's lives. He concentrated as hard as he could and pushed the memories of those he loved deep into his subconscious, deep down where even the Queen could not penetrate. He hoped that even if he was sent to kill or hurt his lover and friends, unconsciously he would still know who they were and not attack them. He finished his task and briefly focused on Rose.

"Goodbye, my love, I hope what I juszzzt did will szzzave you from my fate," he murmured.

Then with that, he finally gave up and allowed the Queen to possess his mind completely.

__________________

The Queen buzzed excitedly as she perched on her rock. At last, she felt the last of the mental barriers crumbling and she had complete and total access to the Doctor's mind.

_Come to me, my consort, come straight away,_ she thought to him.

_Yes, my Queen, I obey,_ the DoctorWasp thought back.

The Queen buzzed even more, this was too good to be true. The greatest mind in the universe now bent to her will. She imagined being impregnated by him and bearing a new race of super wasps that would conquer the universe. She settled herself when she noticed that her agitation and excitement were carrying over to her children, making them buzz around in confusion. Once she was calm, they calmed and went back to tending the hive. But deep inside, the Queen was still burning with excitement. She knew what she would have her consort do first, find Rose Tyler and destroy her. Then she would send him after the meddlesome Torchwood and after that, there would be no one of consequence to stop her.

A half hour later, she saw the DoctorWasp fly into the main chamber. She commanded him to come to the rock and he settled down beside her. She ran her antenna over his face and body, sensing as she did if there were any remnants of resistance left in his mind. She buzzed joyfully when she sensed his mind was completely in her power. The Doctor was now no longer a Time Lord, but a wasp like her.

_You are now my consort, you will serve only me, _she thought to him.

_Yes, my Queen, I obey your every command without question_, he thought back.

_Excellent. I have a task for you then, my consort. I want you to find and kill Rose Tyler._

_Yes, my Queen, I obey._

The Queen watched as the Doctor rose into the air and flew out of the cavern.

_Now…_she thought to herself, _we shall see if the Doctor is well and truly mine. _


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty Five

It took about a half hour for Rose to half walk/half jog over to a two story stone house with a black shingled roof. The little paved driveway led to a small road and once Rose reached the house, she saw a similar house about two miles away from it. She looked over off to her left but couldn't see any signs of the M4. By now, she was more concerned with Jack and the others than with her own safety. If the Doctor came back for her, she didn't want to put up any resistance. Either the Doctor stung her or he would take her to the Queen and she wanted more than anything to get her hands on her and wring her insect neck.

As she walked up to the house, she noticed in the side windows that lights were on behind some sheer white curtains and she could hear the television somewhere inside the house. She noticed as she walked up that whatever was on the TV was in Welsh. As she neared the wooden door in the front, she heard a man inside boisterously laughing at something and then saying something loudly in Welsh.

"I just hope you know English," Rose muttered to herself as she reached the door and banged on it.

She waited patiently and then the door opened and Rose saw an elderly man standing there. He was slightly plump and medium height, in his late seventies. The only hair he had was a few white tufts along the sides above his ears. He had a deeply lined face and wore wire rimmed glasses that were perched on his hawkish nose. He had on a dark blue jumper with black slacks and black house slippers. He was smoking a pipe and took it out of his mouth as he examined Rose. Coming up behind him was a very short woman, about four foot eight inches. She had curly white hair that came down to her shoulders and a deeply lined face with a slight scar across her right chin. Her bright blue eyes also studied Rose as she looked around the man's body.

"Yes?" the man said with a thick Welsh accent, "may I help you?"

"My name's Rose. I need your help. I've been stranded and I need to find somewhere to stay so my friend's can find me. Will you let me come in and use my mobile and tell me where I am so they can find me?"

The man studied her for a moment more, sizing her up and debating on whether to let her into his house, before he nodded.

"Yes, come inside," he said as he and the woman stepped back to let her in.

"Thank you," Rose said, breathing a sigh of relief.

"I am Dafydd, this is my wife, Dierdre," he said.

"Nice to meet you and thank you. I promise I won't be a bother. I just need to tell my friends where to find me and then I'll be on my way."

Dafydd noticed that Rose was slightly shivering and saw the t-shirt and jeans she was wearing.

"My dear, aren't you cold? It's chilly out tonight?" Dafydd asked her.

"A little bit, yeah," Rose admitted.

Dierdre smiled and came up beside her.

"Come and have some tea and custard then, get warmed up while you wait," she said to her.

"Thank you," Rose said gratefully as she followed her into the kitchen.

_____________

After contacting Jack and letting him speak to Dafydd so he could give him directions, Dierdre sat her down at the kitchen table and gave her a mug of tea and some vanilla custard. Rose thanked her and ate, not realizing until that moment how hungry she really was.

While she ate, Dafydd came into the large homely kitchen and gave her back her phone.

"Your friend is coming. Turns out he wasn't too far away. We're only about ten miles from the M4," Dafydd said, sitting down in a wooden chair opposite her.

"Thank you for doing that. I'm just glad I found you," Rose said.

"It's not a problem. But tell me, how did you come to be stranded all the way out here at this time of night, my dear? It's nearly ten o'clock. And you're not even properly dressed for the weather."

Rose grimaced at that. She had left so quickly with the Doctor and was in such a rush she hadn't thought to bring along a heavy coat. The Doctor had wanted to get out of the Hub as quickly as he could and she didn't have time to stop and think. Besides, naively she thought that the Doctor would be able to hold on long enough for them to find a hotel or at the very least, an abandoned house they could stay in. She lowered her eyes to the table, trying not to cry while she tried to think up an excuse for why she was out in the middle of the Welsh countryside at ten at night.

"I was at a party with some mates and my boyfriend," she said, hoping she sounded convincing. "We were heading home and got in an argument and he kicked me out and left me while he went on to Swansea."

It sounded like a lame story to her but Dafydd either believed it or just decided not to press for a further explanation because he nodded at that.

"And these people that are on their way here, they're your friends from the party?" he asked.

"Yeah," Rose said, grateful that he had come up with a reason for Jack and the others coming to get her.

"Well in future, I'd find yourself a boyfriend who wasn't a jerk," Dafydd said, getting up from the table.

Rose smiled at that and nodded. Dafydd went into his living room and Rose sat alone, finishing her custard and tea.

__________________

After twenty minutes, the SUV finally pulled into the driveway. Rose quickly washed up her bowl, mug and spoon and went out to greet them.

"Thank God you found another house," Jack said as he and the others climbed out, "I see your luck's still holdin', Blondie."

Rose gave him a wry grin as he chuckled and hugged him.

"Don't worry, Rose, we'll save him," Jack said as he hugged her tightly.

"I know," she replied, honestly believing that. "The couple inside is called Dafydd and Dierdre. I better tell you the reason why I'm supposedly out in the middle of the countryside before you go in."

Jack nodded and the others came in close as she explained about them being her friends coming to get her after the party. Jack chuckled when she mentioned the fake boyfriend.

"Shame on that bastard," Jack said. "I thought Rick was more honorable than that!"

He gave Rose's shoulder a playful punch when she rolled her eyes at that and they all went inside to talk to the elderly couple. After five minutes, while Jack and the others were having tea and talking to the couple, Rose wandered outside and glanced up at the moonlit night. She wrapped her arms around her, trying to keep from getting chilled as she thought about the Doctor and wondered where he was at the moment. Her stomach churned as she imagined him with the Queen and the Queen doing God knows what to him. Then her spine stiffened and her blood froze when she suddenly hear a faint buzzing in the distance. A buzzing that sounded like it was coming closer. Frozen with fear, she finally made out a lone wasp heading their way and guessing who the wasp might be, she turned and sprinted inside.

"JACK, I THINK HE'S HERE, HE'S COMING!" Rose yelled as she burst into the kitchen.

"Who's coming?" Dafydd said in confusion. "More of your mates?"

"Uh…not exactly, um…sir, we need you and Dierdre to go into your cellar right now."

"Whatever for?" Dafydd said as he glared at Jack.

"Because you're in very real danger, both of you. We have a friend that's coming and he knows my car and if he comes here, you aren't going to like it. Now please, just trust us and do as we say and…"

"Now wait just one minute!" Dafydd said incensed, "you can't come in here and order me about like some…"

He gasped when something hard suddenly hit the door and they heard an angry buzzing outside.

"What in the name of all that's holy was that?" Dafydd said.

"That was the friend I was telling you about. Owen, Gwen, take them to the cellar now!"

They gasped when they heard another loud bang on the door. As Owen and Gwen urged the elderly couple towards the cellar, Jack saw Rose running back towards the door out of the corner of his eye.

"Oh no you don't!" he said, spinning around and chasing her four feet before he grabbed her arm.

"Jack, let go, it's me he wants. I can stop this!" Rose said, frantically as Tosh and Ianto got on either side of her and hemmed her in.

"Nothing doing," Jack said as she struggled to get out of his grasp.

"Jack, please, let me go. If you don't, he'll kill us all!" Rose begged.

"No, I'm not letting you go. We already lost the Doctor, I'm not losing you too," Jack grunted as he put his other arm around her stomach and held her to him.

Rose tried to pull away and then everyone froze when they heard the buzzing off to their right. They turned their heads and saw the wasp staring in at them through the window that was over the kitchen sink.

"Doctor?" Rose said.

They gasped when the wasp backed up and rammed the glass hard with his head, making a big crack in it while the wasp bounced back from the force of the blow.

"In the cellar, all of you! That means you too, Rose!" Jack said as he started to pull her backwards towards the door leading into a corridor between rooms.

Jack had his head turned so he could see where he was going. He heard a loud shattering of glass. Rose screamed and he, Tosh and Ianto looked back to see the wasp was shaking its head as it was trying to fit through the tiny window.

"Hurry!" Jack said as the wasp squeezed its way through the shattered window.

"Let me go! He wants me!" Rose screamed as Jack tugged at her.

"Come on, Rose," Jack growled at her.

Rose looked back at the wasp who was nearly inside before she finally turned and followed Jack and the others into the living room. She heard the wasp's angry buzzing as he squeezed himself into the kitchen.

"No, Doctor, please fight it," Rose murmured as they followed Owen's voice towards the cellar.

Then suddenly Ianto let out a warning cry and they heard a loud buzzing as the wasp flew in behind him. Jack pushed Rose to the ground and tried to pull out his gun but the wasp slammed his head into his gut, knocking him off balance. Tosh and Ianto froze, watching with horror as the wasp reared up into the air and aimed its stinger directly at Jack's stomach.

"No!"

Jack's eyes bulged with horror when Rose flung herself in front of Jack.

"No, Doctor, don't!" she pleaded. "Please stop, I'll go with you, but please stop this!"

Everyone held their breath as the wasp paused in midair and seemed to study Rose who was lying on her side looking up at him. Ianto, off to the side, reached behind him into the waistband of his trousers and grabbed a revolver, keeping his eyes on the wasp.

"Doctor, stop! Please," Rose pleaded as the wasp hovered in the air above her. "It's us. Please remember."

Jack saw Ianto pulling his gun out of the waistband and held up a finger, signaling him to wait as the wasp slowly lowered itself to the ground and walked towards Rose. Rose lay perfectly still, tears threatening to flow while Jack gestured for Tosh and Ianto not to attack. The wasp came up until Rose was nearly under his body. Then it used its antenna to feel her face.

"It's him," Rose said softly while he did it. "He did this to me before. He remembers."

"Rose, just…keep still. Just in case," Jack said, slowing getting to his knees.

"He won't hurt me. I know he won't," Rose said softly. "I'll always trust him."

Jack wasn't so sure of that but he could see for the moment at least; the Doctor seemed to have enough self-control not to attack them all. His stomach lurched when he looked at him. The man he knew was completely gone. Now there was only an enormous insect. Rage filled his mind and he longed to go find the Queen and snap her in two for doing this to him. Very slowly, he got to his feet, pausing halfway up when the wasp looked his way and began to buzz.

"No, Doctor," Rose said, laying her hand on the side of his face.

The wasp looked down at her and the buzzing stopped. Jack was amazed at that. Rose still had the power to calm the Doctor, even when he wasn't himself anymore. Rose lay quietly under him, stroking the hard exoskeleton that covered his face while the Doctor stood there and let her do it. He sensed someone behind him and turned to see Owen and Gwen at the other door. He shook his head when Owen showed him his revolver and motioned for them to get in the other room. Meanwhile, the Doctor was still standing over Rose and staring down at her, docile as a kitten, while Rose stroked his cheek.

Suddenly, the Doctor closed his legs around Rose's body and Jack gasped when he lifted her into the air.

"No, Buddy, wait! Don't do this," Jack said, holding up his hands as the wasp paused to look at him. "Doctor, put her down and let us help you. Don't take her away from here. The other wasps are outside and…"

Jack suddenly yelled in pain when the Doctor entered his mind and sent a deafening buzzing into it.

_Open the front door,_ the Doctor thought to him.

"Doctor, no," Jack grunted out. "Don't take her."

He cried out when the buzzing became louder. The other members of his team tried to stop the Doctor but he flew up higher into the air, holding Rose close to him.

_Let us out,_ he thought to Jack, _open the door now!_

Jack staggered to his feet, fighting the buzzing that was making his head throb.

"Only…if you give me your word, you won't hurt her," Jack grunted out as he got to his feet.

Suddenly, the other four members of Torchwood fell to their knees in pain as Jack glanced at them in horror.

_Open the door, set me free!_ The Doctor thought to Jack.

"Alright, alright, just stop this!" Jack pleaded as his team members groaned and held their aching heads.

He took a few tentative steps forward, half afraid it was a trick and his friend would sting him but the Doctor merely watched him go by and then turned when he was behind him. He noticed the fearful look on Rose's face as she lay next to his body but she was staying calm, trusting he wouldn't hurt her. Jack walked back to the front door, a loud buzzing accompanying him as the Doctor followed behind. He heard the groaning cease and knew the Doctor had released the hold on his teammate's minds. Hoping that was a sign that the Doctor still knew who he was and knew who Rose was, Jack reached the door. He put his hand on the doorknob and turned to look at the Doctor who was hovering a few feet from him.

"Please, Doctor, take care of Rose," Jack said before opening the door. "I'll find a cure, I promise."

The Doctor didn't telegraph anything to Jack, only held Rose tighter to his body. Jack watched with anguish as his friend flew out the door with Rose, rose up into the moonlit sky with her and quickly flew away back towards Cardiff.


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter Twenty Six

Rose shivered as the cold wind swept over her body. The Doctor was flying her away to God knows where and she was freezing but she didn't know if the Doctor would understand that anymore. Even though she had told Jack she trusted the Doctor, she couldn't help but wonder just how much of him was still inside the insect's body. She had managed to stop him from attacking but could she keep him calm forever?

She suddenly felt the Doctor dropping in altitude and turned her head to see they were descending into a forest. She winced when she saw the treetops coming up to meet them but the Doctor skillfully navigated around the leaves and branches and flew inside and under the canopy. Once they were under the leaves, the light was reduced but the Doctor still managed to fly expertly through the semi darkened forest. Rose's arms were pressed against her sides, held tightly by the Doctor so she wouldn't slip out and fall so she couldn't touch him. She was forced to stare up at his hard yellow exoskeleton as he flew rapidly through the trees.

Then she felt him dropping down again and he hovered inches from the ground. Rose let out a grunt as he dropped her into the underbrush and then landed with his legs straddling her. Rose lay there, fearful of moving since the Doctor had a huge stinger behind him but a moment later, the Doctor flew up, moved a few feet and settled down to rest while he watched her. Rose slowly got to her feet, keeping her eyes on the Doctor but he calmly watched her get up and she lost the residual fear she had as she moved towards him.

"Where are we?" Rose asked as she knelt down beside him.

The Doctor didn't reply, just stared at her quietly.

"You can speak, you told Jack to open the door for us, yeah?" Rose said to him."Speak to me, Doctor, where are we?"

The Doctor began to buzz agitatedly and Rose frowned, wondering what he was doing. The buzzing ceased and he was quiet again. Rose, confused, looked around and then slowly got to her feet.

"Are we near her cave? The Queen?" she asked the Doctor while she walked around the clearing.

Again, the agitated buzzing but this time, Rose heard the Doctor's voice in her mind.

_Trying…_he thought to her. _Hard to concentrate…mind being…controlled. Hard to think…to you, Rose._

Rose guessed then the buzzing was the Doctor's frustration at trying to get past the Queen's control to speak with her.

"Doctor, are we near the hive?" Rose asked.

More frustrated buzzing.

_No…_he finally managed to think to her. _Remember you …unconscious memories…know who you are…won't give you up to the Queen. Hide, Rose._

"Where?" Rose said, looking around.

In response, the Doctor flew up into the air, above the tree canopy. Rose could tell he was circling around the area, she guessed in order to find a hiding spot for her. Then after five minutes, he came flew back down and landed at Rose's feet. Rose watched as he tapped the ground with his stinger twice…then did it again a few seconds later while he stared at her. It took Rose a moment to register he was signaling for her to get on the ground. She lay down and he once again straddled her, took her up under his body and flew up into the air. He flew about fifty feet from where they had been and went back down into the trees again. He sat her down and Rose noticed a tiny cave nearby with a four foot wide opening, just big enough for her to crawl inside. The Doctor walked over to it, turned and tapped the side of it with his stinger while he stared at her. Rose walked over, got down on her hands and knees and peered inside. She couldn't see much, just some dead leaves that were scattered all over the ground. Praying it wasn't being used by some animal, she crawled into it while the Doctor watched. She found that the inside was wider than it looked and she could turn around and lay with her head near the front. Thankfully, there were no big animals but she winced when she felt little beetles scurrying over her legs. Despite being concealed, she was still cold and she told the Doctor as much.

"Doctor, what do I do for warmth? I don't have any matches and it'll get cold tonight."

The Doctor buzzed in frustration before thinking to her.

_Find something for you…stay here…_he managed to get out.

Then with that, he was gone, leaving Rose all alone in a narrow cave in the semi-dark woods.

____________

Jack slammed his hand on the steering wheel of the SUV. After giving a half truth to Dafydd and Dierdre about what happened and offering to pay for the damages to their house, they hurried back outside and sped away in pursuit of the Doctor and Rose.

"Damn him, if he hurts Rose, I'm gonna spray a barrel of pesticide in his face!" Jack yelled as he drove.

"Jack, calm down, if the Doctor wanted to hurt Rose he would have done it back at the house," Gwen said as she sat beside him. "It doesn't do any good to get angry."

"Yeah, well, we shouldn't have stayed. We shoulda got her away from there as soon as possible. But no, we had to stay for a friendly chat with the locals!" Jack said. "Damn him! He's probably halfway to the hive by now."

"I don't think so," Ianto said. "He spoke to you with his voice, right?"

"Yeah," Jack said.

"Well, he's obviously got some residual awareness left then," Owen said. "We saw that much when he allowed Rose to pet him. Gwen's right. It won't help Rose if you get so mad you run us off the bleedin' road."

"Hullo," Jack said, leaning his head forward to look out the windshield. "I spy with my little eye a lone wasp in the distance."

Gwen and the others leaned up and saw a wasp flying away about ten miles in front of them. Jack hit the gas pedal and the others held on as he took off in pursuit.

"Careful, Jack," Owen growled as Jack kept his eyes on the wasp. "Just because he's the Doctor doesn't mean he won't turn on us and attack."

"I'm being careful, Owen. Just ready the tranquilizer gun. I don't wanna hurt or kill him if I can help it. We still need to try to find a cure for him."

"But where would we go, Jack?" Gwen asked. "The only place that could contain him is the cells back at the Hub."

Jack tightened his jaw.

"Then we go back to the Hub and risk it," he said.

As he neared the Doctor, he squinted and examined him closer.

"I don't see Rose, I hope that's not a bad sign," Jack said to the others.

"How do we know this is the Doctor we're following?" Ianto said.

"Yeah, it could be another wasp out searching for him or Rose or us," Tosh added.

"In which case, the car won't do much good against that bloody great stinger it has," Owen said. "As big as it is, it'll tear through the car roof like paper."

________________

As the Doctor flew through the air, he kept on trying to battle the Queen's influence. The burial of the memories of his friends and lover had helped him get a temporary grip on his mind, especially when he saw Rose, but he could sense the Queen's frustration at losing her hold on him again and her efforts to make him submit. He felt blessed that he had a mind that was superior to humans, otherwise he would have been hers hours ago. While he flew, he kept searching for a house, somewhere where he could find a blanket or coat for Rose so she wouldn't freeze to death. He was hoping he could smash through a window like he had done at the other house, grab a blanket off the bed and get back to Rose before he was shot. He figured his hard exoskeleton would repel the bullet but not the area in between his segmented body. It was still relatively soft and pliable to allow him to move and turn and a bullet could pierce that part easily.

He spied a farmhouse off to his right and angled his flight as he headed towards it. That's when he spied the SUV about five miles away from him. He knew it was Jack's car and Jack was following him, presumably to get Rose back. For the moment, Rose was safe and his plan was that he wanted her to remain hidden and far away from either him or Jack since he knew the wasps would be looking for her. As much as he hated to do it, he had to try to discourage Jack from following him and finding Rose. Fighting the Queen's influence, he turned and began to make a beeline straight for the car.

"Um, Doctor, what are you doing?" Jack said as he saw the wasp rapidly descending towards the car.

"Jack, I don't think that's the Doctor!" Gwen said in a panic.

"Back up, Jack! Now!" Owen screamed.

Jack slammed on the breaks, threw the car into reverse and tried to drive backwards while the others kept an eye on the wasp. Owen grabbed the tranquilizer gun, rolled down his window and leaned out it to try to take aim at the insect. He cursed when he realized the insect was coming in too fast for him to get in a shot so he quickly stuck his head back in and rolled the window up. Everyone yelled as the wasp slammed down on the top of the roof, denting it for a few seconds before it rose up into the air again. Jack slammed on the brakes and moved the car forward, wincing as the wasp again landed hard on the roof.

"Jack! Go faster; I don't want a stinger in my brain!" Owen yelled in terror.

Everyone looked out the left windows when the wasp flew down beside the car. They flinched when he angled his body slightly as if he was going to plunge the huge stinger into the back window but instead of attacking, the wasp only showed his stinger to them as a kind of warning before going back up into the air.

"This has to be the Doctor," Jack yelled at them. "It's not really attacking so much as trying to scare us into leaving."

"Well, he's doing a bloody good job, mate," Owen said.

They gasped when the Doctor pounced on the roof again and the roof dented in before popping back up. Then he flew down beside them and once again showed his stinger to them before flying back up. Jack, playing a hunch, slammed on the brakes and waited while the others held their breath. There was a moment when all they heard was the Doctor's furious buzzing and then suddenly he landed in front of them with his front legs on the hood of the car. Jack gulped when the Doctor peered in at him with his large black eyes while his antenna flicked.

_Go away,_ he heard the Doctor think to him.

"Where's Rose?" Jack yelled at him.

_Safe,_ the Doctor thought back.

"Where?"

The Doctor buzzed angrily.

_Go away, Jack,_ he thought to him.

They gasped when Jack opened his door.

"Jack," Owen said between gritted teeth, "what the bloody hell are you doing? Are you mad?"

"He won't hurt us, Owen, if he wanted to kill us; he could have run us off the road or tore open the car with his stinger. I feel the same way as Rose, I trust him."

"Well, I'm glad you do because I sure as hell don't," Owen muttered as he got out and shut the door.

He kept his eye on the wasp while he held his tranquilizer gun at the ready. Meanwhile, Jack was slowly approaching the Doctor who had slid off the hood and was now walking around the car towards him.

_Leave,_ the Doctor thought to him.

"Not until you show me where Rose is."

The Doctor buzzed and Jack thought it sounded angry and figured that's what it was. He held up his hands, trying to calm him just in case he really was capable of attacking him.

"Buddy, please listen to me, if you're concerned about Rose's safety, I won't try to take her back to the Hub. I just want to know where she's at, just in case she needs us. I know you're worried about her, we are too, that's why I want you to show me where she is. Think about her, what if you lose total control of your mind, don't you want someone who knows where she is who can help her?"

The Doctor flicked his antenna while he considered that. Then he slowly rose up into the air and hovered in front of Jack.

_Follow me,_ he thought to him.

___________________

Rose lay shivering in her cave. It had been almost an hour and she was nearly chilled to the bone. She hadn't seen any sign of the Doctor nor heard any buzzing, which was bad but also good since that meant no other wasps had found her yet.

She heard the sound of buzzing overhead and crawled out just enough so she could look up and see the Doctor flying in a circle in the sky above her like an airplane in a holding pattern. Then after about five minutes, the Doctor flew inside and landed beside her. Rose smiled when he scurried to her and felt her with his antenna.

"I'm okay," she assured him. "I'm still cold though, you didn't find a blanket?"

Then she heard the soft crunching of leaves in the woods behind the Doctor and a moment later, Jack emerged from the trees.

"Here?" Jack said to the Doctor in disbelief. "You stuck her in a teeny tiny cave for safekeeping?"

He knelt down beside the Doctor.

"Howdy, Blondie, you look nice and comfortable in your mouse hole," he drawled.

"I'm alright, I'm just freezing in here," Rose said to him. "You have a blanket or a heavy coat?"

"Doc, you honestly can't leave her here, she'll freeze or something will get her," Jack said to the Doctor. "Listen, let us take her to Swansea and find a hotel room for her where she'll be warm and bugs won't be crawling all over her."

"Yes, please," Rose said.

The Doctor thought it over and then mentally told Rose to come out and lie on the ground. Once she did that, the Doctor scooped her up in his legs and hovered above the ground with her under him.

"That looks like fun. Wish I could do that," Jack said to Rose.

"It's not fun when you're freezing to death," Rose said.

"Doctor, put her down for a minute," Jack said.

He sat her down and Jack removed his coat. Rose murmured her thanks as she slipped it on. Once she had it on, she lay down again and the Doctor picked her back up.

"Better?" Jack asked.

"Much better," Rose said.

"Okay, let's get back to the SUV then," Jack said.

The Doctor turned and slowly followed him as Jack walked back through the woods towards their car.

__________________

When they returned to the car, Rose squeezed inside and sat beside Gwen while Jack looked at the Doctor who was resting nearby.

"So now what are you gonna do?" Jack asked him.

The Doctor didn't reply and Jack knelt down.

"Doc, please let us help you. You can't go back to the hive, the Queen'll never let you leave, especially if she finds out you helped Rose.

_Can't go back with you, not safe, the Queen will find you through me,_ the Doctor thought to him.

Jack sighed.

"I know, just like she did when she used Jeremy to find out our location," he said wearily. "However, perhaps if we sedate you and take you back and keep you under sedation at the Hub. I think I know a way to get in touch with a geneticist who can take a look at your findings and samples and find an antidote. And the last thing I want if we find one is for us to have to go blasting our way through the hive in order to get you back."

The Doctor thought about that and decided to take a chance.

_Alright, sedate me,_ he thought to Jack. _But if I wake and attack…_

"I won't hesitate to stop you," Jack assured him.

_Even if it means destroying me? _

Jack swallowed hard and nodded.

_Then do it, hurry, and once it's done, get out of here because the moment I become unconscious, the Queen'll know it._

Jack nodded and called for Owen to get out and bring the tranquilizing gun. Rose, panicking, climbed out of the car with him.

"Jack, wait, what are you doing?" she said, getting between Owen and the Doctor.

"Sedating him. We're taking him back to the Hub and locking him up so we can find a cure."

"Then take me back to the Hub with him."

Rose, no, the Doctor thought to her.

"Yes, Doctor, I want to be with you, not in Swansea. I'll be alright, Jack'll look after me, I promise."

The Doctor looked at Jack.

_Protect her with every fiber of your being,_ he thought to him.

"Believe me, I will. Now stand back, Rose. Owen has to shoot the dart into his side."

Owen took a position by the Doctor's side while Rose quickly kissed the Doctor's cheek and stepped back with Jack. Jack wrapped his arms around Rose and watched with an aching heart while his friend stood quietly and stoically while Owen aimed the gun at his fleshy midsection. Then there was a bang and Rose winced when the dart hit him directly in the side. The Doctor showed no reaction, only stood quietly while Jack told Ianto and Gwen to get some rope from the back of the SUV.

"We'll have to tie you to the top of the car, Buddy, you're a bit too big to fit inside," Jack said.

Rose walked over, knelt down beside him and stroked his cheek while he slowly became groggy and lay down.

"I love you, Doctor," she whispered in the area where his ear used to be.

She smiled when she heard the Doctor groggily return the sentiment in her mind before his head lowered and he fell unconscious. Jack checked him and nodded to Ianto and Gwen.

"Okay, everyone, let's lift him up gently and tie him to top of the car and make sure the ropes are tight so he doesn't fall off on the way to Cardiff," he said.


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter Twenty Seven

The Queen was angry beyond belief. Just when she had the Doctor's mind fully in her grasp, he managed to find a way to defy her once again. And now she couldn't feel him at all, which led her to believe he had either been killed or was unconscious. She couldn't reach the mind of his friends or his lover, sensing the block he had put around their minds to keep her out of their heads. That made her even more angry and she was determined to put a stop to them once and for all. She summoned four of her children to accompany her as she rose up from her rock. This time she was going herself to find her consort and stop his friends and there would be no mistakes.

* * *

It took about a half hour but they managed to secure the Doctor to the roof as tightly as they could. He was lying on his stomach, still unconscious with ropes around his thorax and abdomen. They drove around a few times to make sure he wouldn't fall off and then Ianto took the wheel as they headed for home. Jack sat in the front with Rose in between them and the others sat in the back. The women on the outside and Owen in the middle of them. While they drove, Jack noticed Rose kept glancing up at the roof of the car with a worried look on her face. He put a hand on her shoulder.

"He'll be alright, Rose. Hell, he's lasted much longer than all the others. Everyone else lost their minds to the hive collective long ago."

"It's because he's not human, Jack," Rose murmured. "That's why the Queen wants him so badly."

Jack nodded as he pulled out his mobile.

"Well, that's why I'm going to put phase one of our plan into action. I said I know someone who might be able to help us locate a geneticist. I know the biology professor at Cambridge University. He's an old friend of mine…"

___________________

Louis Meyers finished brushing his teeth and spat out the last of the foam in his mouth as he ran the toothbrush under the warm water. He had spent most of the day talking to various people who were concerned about the wasps and wanted to know their biology, habits and where they might build hives or strike next. He had provided any information he knew but the constant barrage of questions left him exhausted. Even though the wasps were striking all over southern England and heading into Wales, they hadn't attacked very many in the cities, including Cambridge, so Louis wasn't that concerned about becoming a wasp like so many others.

At forty eight, Louis was beginning to feel his age. His light brown hair was showing telltale signs of grey in it and he spent some of his nightly ritual finding what hairs he could and plucking them out. Still, he could see that he was fighting a losing battle, not only with the hair but also with his waist which was slowly beginning to get the middle age spread. His eyes were hazel, green with gold flecks in them and he was tall and lean, despite the aforementioned middle aged spread. All in all, he considered himself to be in pretty good shape. He jogged every day, didn't smoke or use drunks and seldom drank to excess. He had changed out of the brown suit, white shirt and black tie he had used for his visits with the military and various members of parliament and donned a pair of light blue pajamas. He smoothed back his short hair and gave himself another once over before stepping outside into his bedroom.

His flat was small but comfortable since he made a very modest salary at the university. His bedroom had white walls, a small twin bed with no headboard, an oak bedside table with a brass lamp, digital alarm clock, a few books and a glass of water sitting on top of it. A chest of drawers across from it with a few family photos and a clock hanging above it. To his right was his cupboard and to his left a large window that had sheer navy blue curtains hanging in front of it. Louis walked over to his bed, got in and grabbed a book from the table. He lay there reading quietly when he heard his mobile ringing. Sighing, he put his bookmark in his book, closed it and went out into the darkened living room to retrieve it from the table beside his favorite chair.

"Hello?" he said.

"Louis?"

Louis's eyes widened.

"Jack? Is that you?" he said.

"Yeah, it's me."

"Blimey, I haven't seen you for donkey's years," he said as he wandered back into his bedroom with the mobile. "You still in Cardiff then?"

"Oh yeah," Jack replied.

Louis sank down onto his bed.

"How bad is it out there?" he asked, dreading the answer.

"They're starting to infest southeast Wales and moving west and north even as we speak," Jack said grimly. "That's why I'm calling you."

"Jack, I have no way to stop them, I'm not a scientist," he said to him.

"I know that, Buddy, but do you have colleagues or contacts who are? Specifically geneticists. I have a very brilliant friend that was working on a cure, something that would reverse the mutation but unfortunately he himself got mutated and can't work on it any longer."

"Oh God," Louis said, shaking his head.

"Yeah, I have his notes and some samples he was using but I can't make any antidotes from them and neither can my teammates. I need someone with some expertise. Someone who's trustworthy and I was hoping you'd know someone, Louis."

Louis racked his brain, thinking through his friends and contacts.

"I do have a friend that's a geneticist. He's not super brilliant but he's very capable and trustworthy and might be able to help figure out your friend's notes and develop the antidote we need."

"Great, can you call him? It's vitally important. Wherever he is, I'll be willing to pay for any expense to bring him to Cardiff."

"Well, he's in Glasgow but I can ring him for you and ask and then call you back."

"Please do, call me on my mobile, do you need the number?"

"No, it's on my screen."

"Okay, thanks a million for this, Louis, I owe you one," Jack said.

_________________

"Well," Jack said as he put his mobile back in his pocket, "let's hope that does the trick."

"Yeah, but wouldn't you think the geneticists are already working on this problem?" Owen asked him.

"Maybe but I'm willing to bet the Doctor got further than any human," Jack said. "Which is why we need one to come and take a look at his findings. I'm sure that he was on the verge of finding a cure before that damned mutation took over his body."

"Do you think he's still unconscious up there?" Tosh said worriedly. "I mean, if he was able to fight the Queen's control over him, do you think he'll be able to wake up sooner than a normal human?"

"Good point. Yan, pull over for a minute so we can check him," Jack said.

* * *

The Doctor remained sedated all the way back to the Hub. Once they got there, everyone except Jack took the ropes off, eased him off the roof and carried him to the front door while Jack followed in front of them with his gun drawn. He noticed the door was left hanging open and he signaled for the others to wait while he went in alone to investigate. They stayed in the shadows while Jack searched, scanning the skies and keeping themselves aware of any sound, especially buzzing noises. After fifteen minutes, Jack returned and gave the all clear and they quickly carried the Doctor inside while Jack slammed the door shut, locked it and barricaded it with furniture.

They carried him to the cells and Owen let out a groan when they got there and saw Janet cowering in her cell, whimpering softly.

"Damn them, the bloody wasps scared her half to death," Owen said as they opened the cell next to her.

"Is that…is she…a mutant like the Doctor?" Rose said, staring at her as they gently laid the Doctor down on the floor of the cell.

"You mean was she human once? Nah, love, she's a weevil, they always look like that," Owen said with a smile. "We captured Janet and she's become a sort of pet for us. That's why I'm a bit cheesed off that the wasps came in here and scared her. I'll be glad when this whole ruddy mess is sorted out for good and all. D'ya want a little time with him?"

Rose nodded and Owen beckoned to the others to follow him outside.

"Just let us know when you're through so we can lock the door," Owen said over his shoulder as they walked out.

Rose waited till they were out of sight before she lay down beside the unconscious Doctor. She stared at him quietly while she stroked his cheek.

"I know you wouldn't like to hear me say this but I wish it were me that got stung inside of you," she said softly as she ran her hand over his head and thorax. "You don't deserve this. You're far more important than I am, Doctor. The whole universe needs you and it's not right that you're this big bleedin' insect now instead of the wonderful man you once were."

She scooted closer to him and laid her nose against his hardened cheek.

"I would stay in here with ya but I know they'd drag me out, kickin' and screamin'," she whispered. "But I trust you completely, Doctor. I know no matter what happens, you'll never hurt me or Jack or anyone else because I know you could never live with yourself if you did."

She laid her hand against his cheek and then rubbed his right antennae gently with her thumb and forefinger.

"No matter what happens to you, Doctor. If they don't find a cure for this, I won't leave ya. I'll stay with you, wasp or no wasp until I die. I swear that to you."

She kissed his cheek and put her forehead against the cold, hard exoskeleton. The Doctor normally had cold skin but the exoskeleton felt like ice to the touch and she had to fight to keep from crying. After a few more minutes, she gave him one more kiss on the cheek, whispered her love for him and got up from the floor. She was about to go out when she stopped and gazed at Janet who was now sitting in the corner with her arms around her legs, still whimpering pitifully. Rose walked over to the Perspex wall that divided the cells.

"Heya," she said softly to her as she whimpered. "It'll be alright, Janet. This is the Doctor. He won't hurt ya. He's not like the other wasps. Don't be afraid, yeah?"

Her heart went out to Janet as she lowered her head and whimpered. Rose, not knowing what to do and feeling completely helpless and frustrated, pulled herself away from the wall and called out to the others that she was ready to leave the cell.


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter Twenty Eight

"Great, Louis, I'm glad he agreed to come. I'll pay for any expenses and meet him at Cardiff Central when he comes in on the train and thanks so much for this, Buddy, I owe you one."

Jack ended the call on his mobile and put it back in his pocket. He was sitting in his office resting and planning what to do next. He had fixed a cup of tea and was sipping it slowly, quietly enjoying the brief respite they had before he knew all hell would break loose again. He noticed Rose was coming towards his office and he sat his cup down on his desk as she entered.

"My friend, Louis, called. He contacted his friend, Thomas Sutton, at Glasgow and he'll be coming by rail. I have to meet him tomorrow morning at 7 am when the train pulls into Cardiff Central."

"D'ya think he'll be able to figure out the Doctor's notes?"

Jack sighed and ran his fingers back and forth along the side of his mug as he stared at the steaming hot liquid inside it.

"I don't know, Rose. I don't know the man. I'm trusting my friend's judgment here. Normally, I'd be more thorough in finding out who he was and if he can be trusted, but we don't have the time to do that anymore. I doubt we have much time left to do anything. Damn it, the one man who can stop this from happening is now lying in my cell incapacitated because he's a gigantic insect. If I find that Queen…"

He smiled at Rose and shook his head.

"But, it won't do any good to get angry, will it? Anger won't bring the Doctor back to his normal self. Besides we have to keep a level head now if we're going to survive this."

He sat his mug down on his desk.

"Wanna go with me? I need to go feed Myfanwy and check on her and then we'll do a quick check of the Doctor to make sure he's still sedated."

Rose nodded. Jack rose from his chair, patted her on the shoulder and gave it a squeeze before they left the office. He led her to the basement where there was a large walk in refrigerator. Rose wrapped her arms around her as Jack walked inside the chilly refrigerator and selected a few large steaks and a couple of packages of freeze dried rats.

"Her usual meal," Jack said, holding up the steaks. "Plus a little treat for helping to fight off the wasps that got inside here."

They walked out and Jack closed the refrigerator. They walked back up to the lift room and Jack looked around and then let out a shrill whistle. A moment later, Myfanwy flew down from a secluded spot in the ceiling and landed several yards from them. Rose gasped at the size of her but Jack shook his head.

"It'll be okay but you better stay back, she knows me but she might attack you," Jack cautioned.

Rose nodded and stepped back a few feet, watching while Jack came forward and fed Myfanwy the steaks. While she was eating them, he took the opportunity to look her over.

"I don't see any injuries," Jack said as he threw the second steak her way. "I don't think they hurt her, although I'm sure she hurt them which is why they all scattered. And that's why she's getting a special treat tonight."

He opened the plastic wrap surrounding the dead rats and threw them to Myfanwy who devoured each one in one gulp. Rose was amazed when Jack got close enough to pat her head. He saw her surprise and grinned.

"Me and Yan are the only ones who really deal with her," he said, walking back to Rose while throwing the last steak to Myfanwy who also ate it quickly. "Yan and I were the ones who captured her so we feel responsible for her."

"Where did you find her?" Rose asked.

"In a warehouse here in Cardiff. Ianto found her first and then came and found me so we could catch it. He was looking for a job with us after working at Canary Wharf. He was there that day actually, the same time you and the Doctor were there…his girlfriend, Lisa, was nearly turned into a Cyberman before the process was halted halfway through."

He patted Rose's shoulder when he noticed her anguish at the memory of what happened that day.

"Anyway," Jack said, hurriedly changing the subject, "he and I found her and in time she came to trust us and she lets us get close to her, but only us, which is why I asked you to stay back."

"How'd she get here? Through the rift?" Rose asked as they walked away.

"Um, maybe. Maybe there's one of those anomaly things that drift around Britain like on Primeval and she came through it," he said as Rose chuckled. "But let's get a syringe with the tranquilizer in it and go check up on the Doc before we relax. Do you wanna go with me to Cardiff Central in the morning by the way? Meet this Thomas for yourself?"

"Yeah, I'd like to do that," Rose said, nodding.

"Then I'll set up a camp bed in my office and you can sleep in there. While you do that, I and the rest of my ragtag team will be making calls and trying to figure out how bad the infestation is, both here and in the rest of Britain and if anyone has made any sort of progress in trying to stop them. I hope so but like I said before, I have a feeling our best hope is lying on the floor of that cell."

They walked to the lab and Jack grabbed an empty syringe, filled it with sedative and he and Rose walked to the cell block. When they reached it, Jack paused for a moment and breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed Janet had calmed down and was curled up in the corner of the cell, fast asleep. They moved on to the Doctor's cell and Jack unlocked the door while he assessed him. From what he could see, the Doctor appeared to be unconscious but wasps have no eyelids so the only way he could tell was the lack of movement and the fact the Doctor didn't stir when they came inside. They knelt down beside him and Jack checked him for any injuries, especially the fleshy parts of his body. His blood boiled as he stared at the wasp's body his friend was now forced to inhabit but he quickly calmed back down, knowing it wouldn't do any good to get mad now. He glanced at Janet.

"Rose, I'll be right back. I wanna get some food for Janet and I'll try to figure out something to give the Doc. Maybe sugar water? Anyway, I'll leave the sedative with you. If he wakes, put him back to sleep. We don't want the Queen seizing control of his mind and turning him against us."

Rose nodded and Jack rose, leaving the syringe with him.

"Won't be but a moment, I promise," he said as he hurried out the door and shut it behind him.

Rose sat on her butt beside the Doctor. She brought her legs up towards her chest while she stared at him quietly. She wondered if he was dreaming and if he was, was he dreaming of her. She reached out and rubbed his antenna with her thumb and forefinger.

Then suddenly the antenna twitched and Rose jerked her hand back. She stared intently at the Doctor wondering if his antenna really had moved or she just imagined it. Then she noticed it twitching again and his wings slowly moving up an inch and coming back down slowly. Rose grabbed the syringe and scooted back until she could reach his midsection. By now both antennas were moving slowly and Rose held the tip of the syringe over his fleshy midsection. But she held back, wanting to speak to him first and let him know what was going on.

"Doctor?" she said, getting up on her knees and leaning over to him.

_Rose?_ The Doctor thought to her.

"Doctor, I'm putting you back to sleep but there's a man coming from Glasgow in the morning, a geneticist who is going to look at your notes and samples and try to find a cure."

_Tell him to take a few more blood samples from me. The other samples have been experimented with already, _the Doctor thought to her as he slowly tried to come to._ Now put me to sleep, Rose, hurry before the Queen realizes I'm awake._

"I will. I love you, Doctor."

_I love you too, Rose, now hurry._

Rose made a face as she positioned the needle next to the side of his fleshy midsection.

"I'm sorry, Doctor, if this hurts ya," Rose said softly.

The Doctor made a gentle, almost reassuring buzzing sound that Rose found pleasant. She counted to three silently in her head and then put the needle into his skin and depressed the plunger watching as the clear liquid went into his body. She glanced up when Jack came back with the food and supplies he needed and saw the Doctor had woken up. He sat them down, opened the door and entered the room.

"Buddy, you okay?" Jack said, concerned, as he dropped to his knees in front of him.

_Yes, I'm okay. Rose just injected me,_ he thought to him_. She told me about the geneticist coming and I told her to tell him to take more samples from me. The others have already been experimented on. You'll need fresh ones._

"Okay, I'll get Owen to do that once you've gone back to sleep," Jack said. "Nice to know you're still with us."

_Only just, I can feel the Queen in my head,_ the Doctor thought to him.

Jack's jaw clenched as once again he longed to wring the Queen's neck for this. He noticed the Doctor's head lowering and the movement of his antenna slowing down. Both he and Rose rubbed both sides of his midsection while the Doctor murmured his love and thanks to both of them in their heads just before he lost unconsciousness again. Both of them sat for several minutes, rubbing his side and making sure he was asleep. Then Jack rose and fed Janet and left a bowl of sugar water in the Doctor's cell. Then he shut the Doctor's door, locked it and Rose followed him back to his office.


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter Twenty Nine

After an hour or so, Rose finally decided to go to sleep on the camp bed in Jack's office. Owen busied himself taking blood samples from the Doctor and Tosh, Ianto and Gwen made calls and checked for any and all information on the wasps and their activities. Jack had found a pillow for Rose and put a fresh pillowcase on it and gave her a clean sheet and a heavy grey duvet which he spread out over her once she was lying down and comfortable. Jack bent over and kissed her cheek.

"Don't worry, Rose. Just when things look hopeless, usually that's when miracles start to happen," he said to her.

"And the Doctor gettin' his body back'll be the biggest miracle of them all," Rose murmured.

Jack nodded, smiled and gave her another peck on the cheek before he went outside and shut the door. Rose lay on her side and watched as he shut off the lights nearby so they wouldn't shine in her face. Rose lay there in the semidarkness letting her thoughts drift to the Doctor and imagining his smiling face, his eyes shining with love as he gazed at her. Tears came to her eyes as she saw his humanoid face in her mind's eye, the face she had grown to love and would always love, no matter what. As she lay there, her eyelids drooped and she made herself comfortable as she drifted off to sleep.

_______________

Rose awoke and found herself alone in the Hub.

"Jack? Ianto, is anyone here?" she yelled as she stepped out of Jack's office into the darkened Hub. "Gwen, Tosh, Owen?"

She headed towards the cell block, unnerved by the silence around her. She reached the cells and noticed with some trepidation that Janet wasn't in hers. Then she saw the empty cell next to it and her heart sank.

"Doctor?" she called out as she turned and walked back the way she came. "Doctor, are you here? Jack? Someone please answer me!"

She got to the front door and her blood chilled when she heard loud buzzing outside. Loud, deafening buzzing that made her recoil with fright. It sounded like hundreds of wasps were outside the door. She backed away from the door, terrified. Then she heard another sound behind her, a wheezing sound that she knew all too well. She felt soothed when she turned and saw the TARDIS materializing. She waited till it stopped and she cautiously approached the door.

"Doctor?" she said.

The door opened and Rose's hearts leaped for joy when the Doctor came outside, completely restored to his old self.

"Doctor!" she said, rushing to his arms.

She hugged him tightly and then looked up at her face. Her joy faded when she saw the defeated look, the slumped shoulders and the dull eyes.

"Doctor, what's wrong?" Rose said, rubbing his arm. "How did you become yourself again?"

"I found a cure but it would only work on me, on my alien physiology," he said dully. "I couldn't save anyone else."

"What?" Rose said in disbelief.

"They won, Rose. The wasps have taken over the entire planet. You're the last human left on Earth and I've come to save you before it's too late."

"No, that's not true. It can't be true," Rose said, shaking her head.

"It is true," the Doctor said, heartsick. "The Queen won and because she infected and mutated the human race at a point in time before they could explore and colonize the stars, the human race is now no more. You are the last, Rose, like me."

"No. it can't be. What about Jack? What about the rest of his team?"

"They're all gone. They were stung while they battled the swarm. I know for a fact that Jack replaced me as the Queen's consort. He mates with her now; the Queen told me so before I became myself again. All hope is lost and it's time to leave before they sting you too."

"But…we just can't give up, Doctor. There's got to be a way," Rose said.

He smiled at her childlike faith in him and held her close.

"We'll try, Rose, we will. But if not, you and I will travel the stars together," he whispered as he lowered his face to her head. "Perhaps our destiny now is to warn others and fight against the Queen before she infects other planets and other species. But come now, there is nothing for you here anymore."

Rose nodded and the Doctor kissed her head before escorting her into the TARDIS…

_____________

Rose's eyes snapped open and she jerked her body up and looked around. She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard Owen and Tosh chatting in the distance and she thanked God it had only been a dream. She had a thought and quietly walked outside the door. Checking the clock on the wall, she noticed it was just after midnight, only about an hour and a half since she went to sleep. She made her way towards the cell block, taking comfort in the fact that everyone seemed to be in the building and the world hadn't been completely overrun by the wasps.

When she got to the cells, she breathed another sigh of relief when she saw Janet, curled up in a fetal position while she slept and the Doctor was next door, still sedated. She didn't have the key so she sat down beside the cell, brought her legs up towards her chest and stared at him quietly. She didn't know how long she stared at him but eventually she felt a hand on her shoulder and saw Jack beside her, syringe in hand.

"Couldn't sleep?" he asked in a soft voice so he wouldn't wake Janet.

Rose debated for a moment whether to tell him about the dream and then decided that she needed to tell someone else her fears. Jack knelt beside her and listened quietly, his face darkening for a moment when she described the world overrun by wasps and then he shook his head when she finished and squeezed her shoulder.

"I don't think it would ever come to that point, Rose. Even if there were no way to cure the victims, I doubt the governments of the world would just sit back and let the Queen overrun everything. Even if they started nuking the UK to stop them, I think they would. Which wouldn't be pleasant for us here in the UK, but then again, neither would turning into a huge wasp. But…gee, Rose, thanks so much for curing the Doctor in your dream and making me into an insect brood mare. I really appreciate that."

Rose chuckled at that when Jack kissed her cheek.

"Do you wanna stay here awhile then?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, I just wanna sit up for a bit longer," Rose said, nodding.

He handed her the syringe and the keys to the cell.

"I'm trusting you with these, alright? I don't want you to open the door and set him free if he wakes up."

"Nah, I won't. I wouldn't risk the Queen getting a hold of him again," Rose replied.

"Good answer. Now, if you don't mind, I'm gonna catch a bit of shuteye. The rest of the team is up and if you need them urgently, there's an intercom on the wall behind you."

Rose nodded and Jack gave her another kiss on the cheek before getting up and leaving. Rose sat and stared at the Doctor for about a half hour. Then she unlocked the door, went inside, shut it and sat down beside him, comforting herself by stroking his thorax. Another half hour went by and Rose noticed him stirring. She took the syringe and injected him in his midsection as the antenna began to move slowly.

"Doctor, I just gave you another injection," she said.

_G…ood,_ the Doctor thought groggily. _Are…you alright?_

"Yeah, I'm fine. Jack's lookin' after me."

There was a short pause.

_That doesn't mean you're in his bed, does it?_ The Doctor finally thought.

Rose laughed and kissed his cheek.

"No, I'm not in his bed."

_Good, keep it that way…good night…my Ro…_

The last word faded away as the antenna stilled again. Rose felt angry tears come to her eyes as she kissed his cheek.

"It's not fair. It's not fair that you have to be sedated while the bitch who did this to you roams free," she said as she stroked his cheek. "I swear, Doctor, if I have to move Heaven and Earth, I will find a way to sort this out and make you whole again. You can count on that!"

She lay her head on his thorax for a few minutes before she decided that she better go get some sleep if she was going to fulfill that vow. Rising up, she grabbed the empty syringe, walked out the door, locked it and went back towards Jack's office to get some more sleep.


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter Thirty

Rose's sleep was uneasy. She kept dreaming of the Doctor either as a wasp or dreaming of her as the last survivor of her planet. She was dreaming about her and the Doctor watching the devastation of Earth from the TARDIS when she felt someone shaking her shoulder. She gasped and jerked awake and saw Jack standing over her.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to scare ya," he said. "Sleep well?"

"Not really," Rose said, leaning up in Jack's chair and putting her arms on his desk. "Lots of dreams about the Doctor as a wasp or the wasps overrunning the planet."

Jack nodded.

"I figured that would happen. But I do have some good news, care to hear it?"

"Can I have a cup of coffee first?" Rose asked.

"On its way," Jack said, hurrying out of his office.

He returned ten minutes later carrying two Styrofoam cups filled with coffee.

"I think I remember how you fixed your coffee back when I traveled with you," he said, handing her a cup. "If not, you can slap me upside the head."

Rose took a sip and nodded.

"You have a good memory," she said.

"Yeah, so I've been told. So…wanna hear my news?"

Rose nodded. Jack pulled up a leather chair that was sitting in the corner of his office and sat down across from her. He put his cup down on the desk.

"First off, we found out that many geneticists are working on the antidote problem, which makes sense since the bug invasion is country-wide. I asked my contacts to find someone who was having some success with the antidote. He made a few calls and found a Doctor Julian Brown from Yorkshire who has been working on an antidote. Now…he hasn't found a complete cure, but he managed to find a serum that will turn a human back into a sort of half human/wasp mixture. But…when he tried this on a few people who'd been turned, they devolved back to the point that they were free of the Queen's control. So it's not a total cure…"

"But he could get the Doctor back to where he could think on his own, even if he is still part wasp," Rose said, her hopes beginning to rise.

"Yes. And they look human enough that you can tell they were once human. He said the ones he tried the serum on still have the black eyes and antenna, the coloring and their wings but other than that, they're back to being human again. He's still working on perfecting the serum but when I spoke to him personally and told him about the Doctor and his brilliant mind, he told me that he wanted to come here to give him the serum and work with him. So I wired him some money for a train ticket to Cardiff and me and Yan are gonna go meet him at the train station this afternoon. While we do that, we'll give you some more sedatives for the Doctor so we can keep him sedated until Doctor Brown can give him this half-antidote."

Rose nodded and Jack kissed her forehead.

"It's not the solution but it's a start," Jack said. "At least we can get the Doc back on our side and he can help to bring the antidote to full completion. So no more dreams about the wasps overrunning the Earth, that's not gonna happen, okay?"

"Yeah," Rose said.

He patted her shoulder.

"If you need anything, Tosh, Owen and Gwen will be here," he said.

"Just be careful going out there. I don't want you or Ianto to become a wasp," Rose said.

"Are you kidding? I'm too good looking to be changed into a wasp," Jack said with a wink.

Rose rolled her eyes and Jack chuckled when she gave him a fond smile. When he turned and walked out of his office with his cup of coffee, Rose sighed and leaned back in his chair while she finished drinking hers.

The Queen sat on her rock, buzzing agitatedly while her children flew around maintaining the hive. It had been a day and still no sign of the Doctor's mind. She refused to believe that he was dead, which must mean that he was incapacitated somehow. She still had a few of her children stationed outside the Torchwood Hub, keeping guard on the place, but it was becoming more difficult for her to do that since humans were starting to shoot at and trap any wasps they found. The Queen buzzed angrily at this. The humans were proving to be more of a menace than she originally thought and she knew she had to step up her efforts to stop them before they found a way to eradicate her and her hive. The Doctor was part of the key to ensuring this wouldn't happen which was why she was so frustrated at the moment. She longed to have Rose Tyler back in her possession along with the Doctor just so she could make her slave sting his beloved to death in front of her eyes. But where was he?

_You won't get away from me, Doctor. You will be mine again, even if I have to kill everyone in the world to get you back,_ she thought to herself.

"Okay, ready?" Jack asked Ianto.

"Ready when you are," Ianto replied.

"You be careful then," Gwen said as the others stood around them.

"We will," Jack said as he and Ianto picked up a couple of tranquilizer guns off the desk in front of them along with a gun like object. "We have our tranquilizer dart guns and we have these guns that shoot smoke bombs. Hopefully, if the wasps come near, we can shoot one of these bombs first to obscure their vision and if they get through that, we'll try the dart guns before we run like hell to the car."

Jack picked up a couple of leather satchels containing more darts and gave one to Ianto. They put the strap over their heads so the strap was lying diagonally across their chest and the satchel hung at their side. Owen picked up another dart gun off the table and everyone followed them to the front door. When they opened the front door, Owen aimed the gun and looked around for any sign of wasps while Jack and Ianto hurried out the door. Owen stood there for a moment, glancing around while the two men made a break for it. But there was no sign of any wasps so when Jack and Ianto were out of sight, he closed the door and locked it.

"I don't think the wasps are gone but perhaps they're resting," Owen said to everyone. "I hope that's the case and it's not an ambush. At any rate, they're on their own now until they can get back here with Doctor Brown."

"I'm gonna go back and sit with the Doctor then," Rose said.

Owen nodded.

"Just let us know if you need anything, love," Owen said.

Rose smiled and nodded. She headed back to the cells while the others went back to work. She had put the tranquilizer syringes on her camp bed earlier and by the time she got back to the Doctor; she could tell he was starting to wake up. She reached into her pocket for the key and opened the door before grabbing one of the syringes.

"Doctor?" Rose said, coming inside the room.

_Rose? _The Doctor thought back to her in a groggy voice as he tried to lift his head.

"Doctor, they found someone. Someone who made an antidote that'll turn you back into the half man, half wasp but your mind will be free of the Queen."

_Good…where…is he?_ The Doctor thought.

"Jack and Ianto went to get him. He's coming by train from Yorkshire. In the meantime, I need to put you back to sleep, yeah?"

_Yes…do it…_

Rose gave him another dose of the sedative.

"Once your mind is free, you can help this man to make a proper antidote."

_Yes…_ the Doctor thought groggily. _There's something…I want us…to do…as well…once I'm normal._

"Yes?" Rose said, stroking the fleshy part of his midsection.

_An ancient…rite…want to perform…_

Rose waited for him to continue his thought before she realized he drifted off to sleep without finishing what he was going to say. She continued to stroke his midsection while she wondered what he wanted to do and what ancient rite he was talking about.

"I hope they get back soon with the antidote, Doctor," Rose said as she stroked his midsection, "because you're needed now, more than ever and it's time for us to put an end to the Queen and her hive, once and for all."


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter Thirty One

Jack and Ianto hurried towards their car, looking all around them while they tried to keep their weapons at the ready.

"Suddenly I wish we had some of that antidote," Ianto said while they ran.

"Me too. But we have to make do with what we got," Jack replied.

They reached the car, out of breath. Both of them panted and gasped while they climbed inside and locked all the doors. Jack started the car while Ianto arranged the weapons between them in case they needed to use them. They headed towards the train station. On the way there, they noticed that the streets were deserted. They slowly realized as they drove that they were the only ones out. Every shop was empty, the streets were deserted and there were no other cars on the road, apart from hastily abandoned ones that Jack had to maneuver around.

"Hope the trains are running," Jack said to Ianto. "I didn't think about everyone begin gone."

"Julian didn't say anything about Yorkshire being deserted. Maybe the wasps aren't that bad up there," Ianto said.

"Not bad…yet. If we don't do something, there'll be no one human left in the UK and then it'll be on to the rest of the world," Jack said, turning a corner.

They reached the train station which was just as deserted as the rest of Cardiff. Jack grabbed his shotgun while Ianto got the other weapons. Ianto reached into his pocket, sat his gun against his leg and dialed the number Doctor Brown had given him. He put the phone to his ear while he grabbed his gun and he and Ianto slowly walked towards the empty train station. They entered and looked around while Jack talked to Doctor Brown.

"According to Julian, there's a brave soul that transports people up north to get away from the worst of the swarm. He told Doctor Brown he'd take him back to Cardiff since he's making another pick-up here."

"Not many people to pick up," Ianto said, looking around at the empty train station.

But when Jack concluded the phone call and they sat down to wait; eventually they noticed other people trickling in to the station. Haggard, depressed and frightened people carrying luggage with them. They sat down and waited. Most stared blankly ahead, lost in their thoughts. A few of them noticed the weapons Jack and Ianto had but didn't comment on it. Jack hoped that they might take comfort from the fact that they were armed and ready.

About a half hour later, they heard the train coming and Jack and Ianto stood up as it pulled into the station. Jack urged all the others to group together and stand near them so they could protect them if necessary. The other people came close to them and both Jack and Ianto scanned the building, searching for signs of wasps while a lone person got off the train and walked over to them.

"Captain Jack Harkness?" the man said to Jack.

"Yes, that's me. Doctor Brown?"

He nodded. The man was in his late sixties with short grey hair that had feathered bangs. He was wearing a pair of granny glasses and he had on black trousers, white shirt and a black waistcoat with black shoes. In one hand he carried a brown leather briefcase; in the other hand was a black doctor's bag.

"I have my research and the antidotes," he said, holding up the bag and briefcase.

"Good. We'll take you back to the Doctor, follow us," Jack said.

Julian nodded and followed him and Ianto. They were walking out to the car when everyone froze. They heard a buzzing noise behind them. Jack turned and saw a wasp flying towards them.

"Yan, get Julian in the car now!" Jack yelled as he aimed his shotgun at the wasp.

He didn't have a clear shot at the fleshy part of the midsection but he hope seeing the gun would scare it off. He was wrong though and Jack ran for it when the wasp flew towards him.

Then he heard a bang and saw a smoke bomb heading towards the wasp. The wasp was confused when it hit his face, dropped to the ground and exploding, throwing up a thick cloud of smoke between it and Jack. Jack reached the car, wrenched open the passenger side door, threw his stuff in and got in. The wasp managed to rise about the smoke just as Ianto put the car in gear and roared away. The wasp let out an angry buzz and started to follow them.

"Shit!" Jack said as he readied the smoke bomb gun.

He rolled down the window, leaned out, aimed the gun at the wasp and fired. The bomb hit him squarely in the face and the wasp was momentarily disoriented, letting out an angry buzz while it gots its bearings again and took up the chase. Jack put another smoke bomb in the gun, leaned out and tried again. This time firing at the road. The bomb hit the road, bounced and then exploded behind them, filling the air with heavy smoke. The wasp buzzed agitatedly while Ianto used the opportunity to speed up the car. By the time the wasp got his bearings again, the car was two miles down the road. Jack looked back, expecting the wasp to give chase but it hovered there in the air, not moving.

"Ha! That's right! Don't mess with us!" Jack said as Ianto drove on.

"I doubt that stopped him," Ianto said. "He's probably just trying to think of an alternate plan. I'm betting he'll be back with some of his mates."

"Then, we'll be waiting for him," Jack said. "Just keep driving, Yan, don't let anything stand in your way."

"Yes, sir," Ianto said.

They reached the Hub and Ianto parked the car as close as he could to the entrance. Jack was already on the mobile talking to Gwen, telling her to let them in. They took one look around before all of them got out of the car and ran like Hell to the door. Gwen threw open the door as they all barreled in before she shut the door and locked it. Everyone else gathered around them while Jack made introductions. Rose came up to him.

"Can you help the Doctor?" she asked.

"I'll certainly try, my dear," Julian said. "Just show me where he's at."

They escorted him back to the cells. Rose opened the door to the Doctor's cell and went inside, kneeling beside the Doctor who was still unconscious. Julian put down his doctor bag, got out a syringe and gave the Doctor an injection in the fleshy part of his midsection.

"By the time he wakes, the change should be happening and there should be no danger of having to sedate him again," Julian said.

"Thank you, Doctor," Jack said. "Rose, do you want to stay here while the serum takes effect?"

Rose nodded and Jack promised to bring her some tea while she waited. Everyone else left the cell and left Rose alone with her lover. Twenty minutes later, Jack brought her some tea and then left again. Rose sipped the tea while she watched for signs of change. At first nothing happened, then she saw the exoskeleton slowly lose its hardness and the Doctor's body slowly returning to normal. Rose continued to caress him as she watched his head slowly shrink back to normal and his hair begin to appear again. Then halfway through the change, Rose saw the Doctor begin to wake up.

"Doctor?" Rose said, stroking his side.

"Rose?"

Rose's heart skipped a beat when she heard him say her name rather than think it. She watched while he slowly rolled onto his back. His face was nearly back to normal except for the bright yellow color with black around the eyes and nose and antenna on his forehead. His eyes were their normal size again but completely black. The Doctor stared at her for a moment before he raised a black colored hand to her cheek. Tears ran down Rose's face when she saw the familiar loving look in his eyes.

"Doctor," she said softly.

"Rose. It's alright, I'm here," he said.

Rose helped him to sit up. His arms, legs, hands and feet still had the black coloring of the wasp's legs and his body was yellow and black but his skin had lost all the hardness of the exoskeleton and except for the wings on his back was back to normal. The Doctor took a look at himself and made a face.

"Ugh! Yellow is definitely not my color," he said.

Rose let out a sobbing laugh and the Doctor smiled and drew her near, feeling her with his antlers while he held her close.

"You can think for yourself again?" Rose asked as she held him.

"Yes. I can't even feel the Queen inside my mind. Whatever this bloke did, it released me from her control."

Rose let out another joyful sob and the Doctor kissed the top of her head. They held each other for a few minutes before Rose helped the Doctor to stand. His legs wouldn't support him for a moment and then they found the strength to keep him upright. He took a few steps, walking around in a circle and then taking Rose's hand, he smiled tenderly at her while they went to find the others and give them the good news.


	32. Chapter 32

Chapter Thirty Two

"Doctor, great to see you again," Jack said as he and Rose came into the main part of the Hub.

"You too, old friend," the Doctor said. "I only wish I looked like my old self but this is a start."

Jack stared at his naked body and the Doctor cleared his throat loudly when his hungry gaze lingered a bit too long. Jack was startled out of his reverie and muttered about how he needed to find the Doctor something to wear while the Doctor eyed him. The Doctor sighed and shook his head while Rose giggled softly. Suddenly the Doctor gave Rose a worried look.

"You still think I'm magnificent, don't you? Even though I look like a big bee?"

"Um…yeah, I do," she said.

"Because I need to look magnificent in addition to feeling magnificent and I wanted to know if you're still in awe of me."

Rose stared at him, wondering if he was taking the mickey. Then a huge grin spread over his face and he winked when she gave his arm a playful shove. Rose froze when the Doctor leaned in and ran his antenna over her face. He made a face when he leaned back up.

"Rose, you stink. My antenna can smell you from here. Get a bath."

"You're just full of jokes now that you're back to normal," Rose said.

"I wasn't joking. You do smell. I suspect you've been lying in that cell with me and knowing Jack, that cell probably hasn't been cleaned in centuries and had weird things defecating in it. I know you were concerned about me but hygiene is important too, Tyler."

"Thanks, Doctor, I'll have a shower as soon as you get off your soap box," she said while the Doctor sniggered.

Jack came up to him carrying a pair of white boxer shorts and some black trousers.

"I'll have to find something for the top half since you still have your wings," Jack said.

The Doctor nodded and hurriedly put the clothes on while Jack went to look for something else. He sighed when he glanced over his shoulder.

"Why am I still stuck with the wings? I can live with the antenna, but wings? I'm glad that if Doctor Brown doesn't find a cure I'll only have to put up with this for this life only."

Rose watched while the Doctor paused for a moment in thought and then he flexed his back muscles. Rose stepped back when his wings spread out. Then The Doctor grinned when he made his wings beat rapidly and he rose two feet into the air.

"On the other hand, being able to fly might come in handy," he said as he came back down.

Jack returned with a blue dressing gown. He put it on the Doctor backwards and tied it around him, going under his wings.

"How does that feel?" Jack asked when he was finished.

"A bit weird but better than nothing," he said while everyone else walked up.

"You know, I have a t-shirt he could use. I could cut a big hole in the back and we could guide his wings through them," Ianto said.

"Good idea. You're right, this isn't going to give you much mobility in the arms," Jack said as he helped the Doctor take the dressing gown off. "We'll do that and in the meantime, Doctor, this is Doctor Julian Brown," he added as he gestured to the man standing beside him.

The Doctor and Rose shook hands with him.

"Thank you for curing me enough that the Queen no longer controls me," the Doctor said to him.

"You're welcome. I only wish I could do more," Julian replied.

"Well, now that I have my mind back, I believe you and I can come up with a better antidote," the Doctor replied.

"I hope so. Thousands have already mutated and that thing won't stop until the whole world is one gigantic wasp nest," Julian replied.

The Doctor nodded.

"Precisely why time is of the essence here. So why not get started? There's a lab here. I was working in it before I became too far gone to continue and Rose was helping me so…Rose, would you mind assisting us again?"

"No, anything to get you and everyone else back to normal," Rose replied. "Whatever you want me to do, I'll do it."

"This is what I like about her, her willingness to help and do anything I say," the Doctor said to Julian. "But enough chit chat, let's get started."

Julian nodded and walked off. The Doctor started to follow him when Rose suddenly grabbed his arm. He gave her a questioning look as she neared closer to him.

"Doctor, there was one moment before you fell asleep from the sedative that you said you'd do some sort of rite with me. What were you talking about?"

The Doctor gave her an enigmatic smile and kissed the top of her head.

"All in good time, my Rose. All will be revealed. For now, we have work to do."

Rose nodded. She was still burning with curiosity but she knew wild horses would never get the answer out of the Doctor. She gave the Doctor a questioning look when he looked around and pulled her into a shadowy corner. Then he lowered his lips to hers and gave her a firm kiss. Rose sighed, thinking how much she missed his kisses as she eagerly returned it. He lowered his chin to her forehead while his antenna felt the back of her head. For the first time in awhile, the old feeling of security and love returned and she felt as if she could stand in the corner forever, just soaking up the love and affection radiating from the Doctor.

"I'm not repulsive to you, am I?"

For a moment, Rose thought he was joking again until she looked at his face and saw the worry there. She smiled and laid her hand against his cheek.

"No, you're not repulsive at all," she said lovingly.

"So I'm magnificent?"

"Always."

The Doctor beamed at that and pulled her into a protective hug. Rose gently wrapped her arms around him, taking care not to damage his delicate wings. She gasped when the Doctor hugged her tightly and flew up two feet off the ground before he set her down again. He laughed when Rose gave him a playful swat on the chest and he gave her a kiss on the forehead before he took her hand and the two of them headed towards the lab.


	33. Chapter 33

Chapter Thirty Three

Rose was amused as she helped the Doctor and Julian with their work. The Doctor was definitely in his element now and he and the other doctor were analyzing their notes, comparing them and debating on what to do to enhance the antidote. Ianto managed to find a large white t-shirt and after cutting a hole in the back, they managed to carefully get the wings through them before the Doctor put the shirt on. Rose had to admit the t-shirt and trousers looked odd on him but she wasn't about to say anything. So far, no actual work had been done, just comparing of notes and arguing over the fine points. Both men seemed to have found things the other hadn't and they were trying to find a way to blend the two men's notes into one.

While they were arguing, Jack came into the room.

"How's it goin'?" he asked, walking up to Rose.

"They're discussing their findings and trying to blend them together," Rose said to him.

"Yes, because I think we both have pieces of the puzzle, it's fitting them together that's tricky," the Doctor said to him.

"I was going to ask you if it's possible to make the antidote into a kind of gas," Jack asked him.

The Doctor and Julian shared a glance and conferred softly for a couple of minutes before Julian looked at Jack.

"I believe we could do that, given enough time. Unfortunately, time isn't a luxury here."

"I understand that but I was thinking, we know where the Queen's hive is. Perhaps if we created a kind of smoke bomb that would carry the antidote to the wasps inside…"

"And what would happen when the Queen realizes what you're doing?" the Doctor cut in, "she could sting them again or sting to kill."

"Yes, but here's the thing. Torchwood has a gas bomb that can knock someone out. If I go into the hive and throw it at the Queen…"

"Jack, the Queen's throne, so to speak, is at the back of the cave and there are wasps everywhere. You'd be stung before you got to her," the Doctor said.

"Not if I stung myself first."

Everyone stared at him.

"I'm sorry?" the Doctor said.

"When we had Jeremy here, we took samples of the toxin from his stinger. I could make myself into a wasp and fly in the gas bomb before I became a full wasp and then you lot could go in with Torchwood and set off the antidote gas which would cure everyone, including me."

Everyone stared at him in silent shock.

"Jack, the transformation is painful, take it from me," the Doctor said.

"I know but I've suffered pain before and we're running out of options. You can block my mind from the Queen, same as you did for Rose, right, so she can't control me?"

"Well, yes, but the more you become a wasp the greater the pull of the hive mind becomes. I can't guarantee that if I put up mental barriers when you're a human they'll stay that strong when you're a wasp."

"It's a chance I'm willing to take. We just got in reports and nearly a quarter of the UK is infected now and it'll only speed up with more and more people transforming. We need to take out the Queen. She's the one directing everything. With her gone, the other people will become confused and won't know what to do and it'll be easier to take care of them. I just need you to try to find a way to make the antidote and put it in gas form. Even this half antidote would work since it would allow the humans to take back their minds and the Queen couldn't control them."

The Doctor and Julian conferred again for another moment and then the Doctor turned to Jack.

"I'll do this because you're right, we don't have much time and not many options but I hope you know what you're doing," the Doctor said.

"Like I said, I'll take the risk and if I get out of control, you can kill me," Jack said. "Just block my mind before I inject myself with the toxin."

The Doctor shook his head.

"Sometimes I wonder about my companions' sanity," he said to Julian. "I think I like choosing people who are more bonkers than I am."

While Julian continued to study both his and the Doctor's findings, the Doctor went with Jack back to his office. Jack sat in the chair while the Doctor stood beside him.

"I still think this is a daft idea and I just hope you know what you're in for," the Doctor said to him. "It's not a pleasant transformation, especially when the extra arms come out of your body and the stinger comes out of your rear."

"I understand that," Jack said. "I've suffered through torture before and I know how to deal with it. Just go ahead and block my mind."

"I hope you're right about this, old friend," the Doctor said before putting his fingers to Jack's temples.

After he finished, the Doctor stood by and watched while Jack injected himself with a yellowish serum that had been taken from Jeremy's stinger. While he did that, the other members of the team and Rose hovered outside the office door, watching silently.

"Now, he's gonna need someone to look after him," the Doctor said to everyone. "Not to mention he should be given sedatives to ease the pain of the mutation."

"I'll do it," Ianto said. "Everyone else has work to do."

Jack stood up and Ianto walked with him to the spare room that they used when they spent nights at the Hub and needed to sleep. The room was largely unfurnished except for a couple of old twin beds, some wooden tables, a couple of lamps and a bookcase that had books chosen by all members of the team. While everyone else went back to sleep, Ianto walked with him.

"You sure this was the right thing to do?" Ianto asked him.

"I'm not sure it was the right thing to do but at the moment it's the only thing to do," Jack replied when they walked inside the spare room. "It might take some time for the Doc and Julian to come up with a full cure and we need to stop the Queen now. Out of everyone here, I can afford to die so I'm gonna be the guinea pig."

"Just…come back to us safely."

Jack stared at Ianto for a moment before he took his hand. He drew Ianto near to him before giving him a soft kiss on the forehead. He held his hand while he laid his forehead against Ianto's.

"I have so much to live for," he said softly. "I'm not about to give that all up and become a giant wasp. Besides, the stinger might be a bit painful during lovemaking, if you know what I mean."

Ianto laughed at that and Jack gave him another soft kiss on the forehead.

"The change isn't instantaneous, why don't you get some sleep, at least for an hour or two. You have a long night ahead of you."

Ianto nodded and Jack cupped his face with his hands and smiled as he took in his handsome face. He noticed the worry in his lover's eyes and he leaned in and gave him a soft kiss on the lips. Ianto returned it and gave his hand a squeeze before he went off to get some sheets and a blanket from the linen closet. Jack watched him go and when he was out of earshot, he let out a sigh and shook his head.

"I must be insane. Life was so much simpler before I met the Doctor. It was a hell of a lot less dangerous being a con man," he muttered to himself as he slipped off his coat and laid it on one of the tables.


	34. Chapter 34

Chapter Thirty Four

All night long, Rose went back and forth between the Doctor and Julian and Jack and Ianto, checking to make sure that Ianto was alright and didn't need any help. He had given Jack some sedatives so Jack was now semi-conscious and she could tell Ianto was distressed at that since Jack seemed to be mumbling incoherently to him. The fourth time she came into the room; she brought him some tea and sat it down on the table while he sat in a chair beside the bed. Jack's skin was now starting to turn yellow and there were two bumps on his forehead where she knew the antenna were starting to come in. She took a cup of tea over to him and he gratefully accepted it.

"How is he?" she asked Ianto.

"Muttering something about his childhood back on the Boeshane Peninsula. I can't make out half of what he's saying. Something about him and his brother, Grey. I don't think he even knows where he is right now," Ianto said as he took the cup from her. "Thank you."

"S'alright, I needed a cuppa as well," she said, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"I hate those wasps more than ever now," Ianto said as he kept his eyes on Jack. "I hate that Queen for mutating the Doctor and now Jack is forced to change because of her. I'd love to go find the bitch myself and pull her appendages out one by one."

"You too?" Rose said.

Ianto laughed in spite of himself and Rose kissed the top of his head.

"I thought that there was no hope left and then you lot found Julian and it's because of him that the Doctor has his mind back. Even if he doesn't change back completely into the man he was, at least he's free from the Queen's control."

"And he can bring Jack's mind back as well," Ianto said, nodding. "Still, I wish he didn't have to do this."

Rose nodded. She felt the same way. Bad enough she had to watch the Doctor transform in front of her eyes, now she had to go through it all over again with Jack. At least this time he had someone who could give him sedatives and make him comfortable. But Ianto wasn't the only one who was upset. The other members of Torchwood were pissed off, Owen especially. She didn't know them that well but she could tell that Owen was a hothead and he was the one who was the most vocal about what a mistake it was for Jack to transform.

"We need him here…in human form," Owen said to Tosh and Gwen. "Bad enough the whole world's turning into one big bloody wasp nest without him joining the ranks."

"It's his decision, Owen," Gwen said.

"I realize that but it doesn't make the situation any better," Owen said. "I just hope he knows what he's doing because the last thing I want is for our fearless leader to be a bloody great insect."

They shut up when the Doctor walked up.

"Is Rose here?" he asked them.

"No, I think she's with Ianto and Jack," Tosh said. "How are you feeling?"

"I've seen better days," the Doctor said. "Still, better to be this way than to be constantly sedated. How are you lot holding up?"

"We're worried about Jack," Gwen said.

"Yeah, so am I. I don't like that he did this but he's an adult and it's his decision," the Doctor said. "I wanted to find Rose because we need her help again. I think we are close to making a full antidote. Our research synchronizes up very closely and I think we just might have found the cure."

"That's wonderful," Tosh said. "So if Jack does this, he really could have a weapon to throw into the hive?"

"I think so, yeah," the Doctor said, nodding. "We're working as fast as we can so we can have something for him before the change is complete. There's not much time between the time he'll get his wings and the time the Queen can possess his mind so we need to be quick about it. And on that note, I'm going to go see about Rose. We'll let you lot know what's happening, just stay positive."

They nodded and the Doctor walked away. The three of them waited till he was out of earshot before they began talking quietly.

By the time, the Doctor found Rose she had taken Ianto's place in the chair while he rested in the bed opposite Jack. Ianto had giving him another dose of sedative and he was now fast asleep. Rose raised her head when the Doctor entered.

"Need your help," he said softly. "I think we're nearly done now. We just need an extra pair of hands to complete it."

Rose nodded. She got up and before the Doctor could do anything, embraced him.

"Ianto's worried sick about Jack," she whispered while the Doctor held her. "I told him to get some rest and I'd watch over Jack but if you need me, I'll come."

"I think Jack'll be alright for the moment," the Doctor said softly. "It's still early in the transformation. His antenna haven't even come in yet. Ianto needs to rest, you did the right thing. If he wakes up, I think he'll understand if you aren't here. In the meantime, I need your help."

Rose nodded and the Doctor gave her a soft kiss on the forehead while his antenna felt her cheeks. He sensed the wetness there and held her tighter.

"It'll be alright. Things are changing for the better now. We're close to a cure and the Queen will soon be defeated, just don't give up, yeah?"

Rose nodded and the Doctor hugged her tightly before she took his hand and followed him out of the room.

The Queen had finally had enough. She had been unable to locate the Doctor's mind and her patience was at an end. She was going herself to the Torchwood Hub with an army of her children, break in there and kill everyone before she took back her prize. She wasn't sure if the Doctor was in there or not but she was going to start there and if he wasn't there, at least she would eliminate all the thorns in her side. Buzzing angrily, she rose from her rock perch and called to thirty of her children to assist her in her siege on the Hub. Thirty wasps instantly swarmed around her and when she flew away, they followed her. Once they were outside the cave and above the trees, they formed three rows behind her. The Queen telegraphed that they were to sting anyone they found, either to kill or transform; it didn't matter anymore to her. All that mattered to her was the Doctor and she was determined to get him back before it was too late.

Working feverishly, the Doctor and Julian finished making a viable antidote while Rose assisted them. She split her time between helping them and running back to check on Jack. Once Gwen learned about Ianto resting, she took over for him and kept an eye on Jack but Rose still wanted to check, both for herself and to update the Doctor on what was going on. After four hours, the Doctor announced proudly that they thought they had a working antidote as he pointed to a large beaker that held a clear liquid in it.

"Now, all we have to do is convert it to gas for Jack to carry into the hive," the Doctor said. "Actually, we should make half gas and leave the rest in liquid form just in case, don't you think, Doctor?"

"Yes," Julian said. "We need some on hand just in case we capture some of the wasps," Julian said.

"And right now, we need a test subject to try the serum on so we can be sure. Problem is, the only two subjects available are Jack…and me."

"Doctor," Rose said, putting her hand on his arm when she realized what he meant.

"I have to do it, Rose. I have to be the guinea pig. We have to know if it works or not," he said to her.

"And if it works, you return to normal?" Rose said.

"Yes. I'll become a full Time Lord again."

"And if it doesn't work?" Rose said, dreading the answer.

"Then I suppose I regenerate and I become a full Time Lord anyway," the Doctor said. "I can't wait around for us to catch a wasp. I need to do this now. Julian, could you pass me a syringe?"

Julian handed him a syringe and he stuck the needle in the antidote. He pulled up the plunger and the syringe filled up with the liquid. He cleaned off the needle to get the excess liquid off it before laying it on the table. Rose passed him a tourniquet and Julian tied it around his right upper arm while he felt for his vein. Finding his vein close to his elbow, he took the syringe and slowly put the needle into the vein. He glanced at Rose and smiled when she mouthed I love you to him. He nodded and depressed the plunger. Rose watched as the antidote went into his arm and prayed that the cure would work. After it was done, the Doctor disposed of the needle and took off the tourniquet.

"Right, now we wait to see what happens," he said. "In the meantime, we need to start making more of this and turning what we have into gas form and…"

They spun around when they heard a klaxon sounding. Owen ran to the lab door, a tranquilizer gun in his hand.

"They're back," he said grimly, "and this time they brought the Queen."


	35. Chapter 35

Chapter Thirty Five

Ianto's eyes shot open when he heard the klaxon.

"What's going on? What's happening? Jack?" he said, looking around.

"It's alright, at least Jack's alright," Gwen said. "I don't know what that's for but I'm betting it's not good."

Ianto got out of bed and both he and Gwen rushed out of the room, leaving Jack still sleeping in his bed. They headed up to the front, calling for everyone else. Owen yelled back.

"GET SOMETHING TO DEFEND YOURSELVES!" he yelled. "THE WASPS ARE ATTACKING US! THEY'RE TRYING TO RAM THE DOOR IN AGAIN!"

"Shit!" Gwen said as she and Ianto stopped short and changed direction, heading for the arsenal. Meanwhile, the others were at the front door. Owen had the tranquilizer gun but he could tell it was going to be useless since he knew there were more than two or three wasps outside. The pounding they made on the door was deafening and everyone was readying themselves for a huge fight.

"Listen, mates, you better go arm yourselves with whatever you can find because this isn't gonna be some little skirmish if the door gives way," Owen said to them.

"What about you? You'll be up here by yourself?" Tosh asked.

"I'm aware of that but you won't be of much help if you don't have a weapon, now go! Take everyone back to the arsenal and get whatever you think will help us," Owen said.

Tosh told everyone to follow her and they ran back towards the arsenal while Owen overturned a table, knelt down behind it and kept the gun aimed at the door. Sweat beaded on his forehead and he swallowed hard while he fought to keep his composure. The noise on the steel door was like a pneumatic drill and it was showing no signs of letting up. He looked over when Gwen came into the room with a sub machine gun followed by Ianto who had a flame thrower.

"Good job you're both awake," Owen said as they got down behind the table.

"I was already awake and I doubt if anyone could sleep through this noise unless like Jack you're heavily sedated."

"Doctor say anything to you about the gun, I know Jack said he's against guns," Owen said.

"We didn't see him and frankly, I don't care what he thinks at this point," Gwen said. "It's admirable that he fights without guns but some of us aren't that brave."

They looked over when the others entered the room. The Doctor had a tranquilizer gun, Rose had a gas grenade gun, Tosh had a revolver and Julian had a shotgun. Everyone took up positions behind the table.

"If you can help it, don't kill any of the Queen's wasps," the Doctor said to them. "Try to wound them if you can but if you can't, try to be merciful."

The pounding continued and all of them positioned themselves behind the long table. Then suddenly they heard a loud THUNK as something hard hit the ground outside the door. Everyone looked at each other and then they heard the buzzing become angry and frantic as the assault on the door stopped. They heard a second thunk and then a third.

"Okay, what the hell is going on?" Ianto said.

Then they heard gunfire and heard some bullets ricocheting off the steel door.

"Apparently, we have help on the outside," the Doctor said.

They heard more thunks and more gunfire and the buzzing grew fainter and fainter until everything was silent. Then they heard the muffled sound of helicopters and everyone got up from behind the table. Ianto walked to the door, unlocked it and slowly opened it. He quickly shut it when gas seeped through and coughed as he locked the door.

"Apparently someone decided to gas the wasps in addition to shooting them," Ianto said when his coughing subsided.

"I heard helicopters. Maybe the objects hitting the ground were gas canisters?" Tosh said.

There was a knock on the door. Ianto opened it as everyone stepped back and a man wearing a gas mask and an army uniform quickly came inside.

"Name's General Malcolm Steele," he said, saluting them as Ianto shut the door. "We've been monitoring Cardiff and we noticed a huge swarm of those bloody wasps were heading for the city. We tracked them and when we found them attacking you, we drove them off with gas canisters and gunfire. Is everyone alright?"

Everyone nodded and the general took off his mask. He was in his early 50's with a long, dug face, piercing green eyes and brown hair cut in a crew cut. He saluted again.

"Everything's secure for the moment. My men have secured the area and we'll leave some of them here to keep an eye on things. Dear God…"

Steele finally noticed the Doctor. His mouth dropped open when he took in his appearance. Rose turned and looked at the Doctor and noticed with overwhelming joy that the yellow and black skin coloring had disappeared and now his skin was pink again. However, he still possessed his antenna and wings, although both were now smaller and shrinking with each passing moment and there was the hint of white around his eyes although his irises were still jet black. Rose felt relief when she realized the serum was working and the Doctor was returning to normal. He explained to the general what was happening and the general could barely contain his joy.

"You mean we have a way to turn everyone back to normal?" he said to the Doctor.

"Yes. We can give you the formula so you can mass produce it. My suggestion is flying overhead and spraying it on towns, cities, anyone's who's infected. That way we can mass cure the population and weaken the Queen."

"What about the Queen, how do we stop her?" the general asked him.

"We have someone who's going to go into her hive and spray the serum in there," the Doctor said.

The general was shocked. He looked around, thinking they were joking. He was even more shocked when he saw they were all serious.

"You're going directly into the hive? You'll be killed before you can reach the Queen," the general said.

"The man we're sending in has volunteered to temporarily change into a wasp so he can fly in, plant the gas bombs and fly back out," Owen said.

"What? You're going to trust someone who's turning into one of them?" the general said. "That Queen controls their minds, what makes you think this man of yours won't turn on you once she takes control of his mind."

"Because he's going in just before that happens," the Doctor said. "There's a period of time before the transformation is complete where the body has changed but the mind is still free. That's when he's going into the hive."

"And who is this brave man, pray tell?" the general said sarcastically.

"Captain Jack Harkness," Gwen said.

"Harkness? Your leader is voluntarily becoming a giant wasp?"

They nodded and the general shook his head.

"I hope you lot know what you're doing then," he said. "I wish you luck. My men and I are going to patrol the city and keep those wasps away. Hopefully, that'll give you time to do whatever you're planning to do. Now can you give me that formula so we can work on spraying the population?"

The Doctor hurried back to the lab. Twenty minutes later, he returned with a couple of pages of notes that he printed off the copier. He gave them to the general. The general saluted them and wished them luck before Ianto opened the door and let him out. Once he was gone, Ianto closed the door and locked it.

"At least we have backup out there," he said to them while he locked it. "I'm going to go check on Jack and make sure he's alright."

"And the antidote is working for you," Rose said to the Doctor as Ianto went past them. "You're nearly back to normal."

The Doctor gazed down at the pink flesh of his hands and grinned at that. He held his hand up to Rose's nose.

"Look at the hairs on my magnificently hairy hand, I can see them again," he said.

He chuckled when Rose rolled her eyes and gave him a playful shove. He looked at Julian.

"So far the test is successful," he said to him. "I suggest we go and make a few gas grenades for Jack so we can finally stop the Queen once and for all."

Julian nodded and the Doctor beckoned to Rose to follow them. The three of them left while the rest of Torchwood made sure the door was secure before they went and had a rest.


	36. Chapter 36

Chapter Thirty Six

The Queen was becoming more and more agitated by the moment. With each passing moment, she sensed the Doctor's mind was slipping away from her and she realized that the Time Lord must have found a way to change back since she now could feel hundreds of her children's minds doing the same. The faithful workers that were still in the hive buzzed around her, doing their tasks, blissfully unaware that they were slowly decreasing in number. The Queen rose from her perch and summoned her workers to her. There were only about forty currently with her, the others off trying to make more of their kind so they were able to fill up the cavern. Once they were all assembled and hovering in the air, the Queen told them what she suspected was going on and ordered them to protect the hive, the ones who were still mutating and above all, her at all costs. Once she was finished, the wasps went away while the Queen settled down on her dais and rested.

"It seems the crisis might be over," the newsreader said as he read the news. "There are preliminary reports that the military have found a cure and they're now flying over the country spraying it on towns, cities and anywhere they see the wasps and our sources claim that the wasps that have been spraying are slowly changing back into their human form. We've been told ground troops are also searching houses trying to get at the wasps who are hiding. This isn't official at the moment…"

Ianto tore his eyes away from the TV screen.

"It's working," he yelled to his teammates who were in the next room. "The antidote is working. The wasps are returning to normal."

He smiled when he heard whoops of joy and accepted a hug from Gwen when she flew into his arms.

"You know what this means?" Gwen said.

"We won't have to replace the door?" Ianto said dryly.

"Well, yeah…but it also means Jack can be changed back once his mission is finished," she said. "How is Jack anyway? Is it time?"

They looked to Owen who had just come from the cells.

"He's halfway done. His wings have nearly come in so I think he'll be able to fly. I don't know about you lot but I think it's time. He needs to get in and out before he changes completely and loses his mind to that blasted queen of theirs. So, if you lot are for it, I'm going to wake him up."

The Torchwood team glanced at one another.

"Do it," Tosh said.

"Be ready with the car," Owen said before turning and heading back the way he came.

"What about the Doctor, where is he?" Ianto said.

"He's with Rose and Julian in their lab, I'll tell em," Gwen said before heading out of the room.

She walked to the lab and entered the room. She smiled when she noticed the Doctor was completely normal now. He was wearing a pair of Jack's black trousers and white shirt and had on a lab coat and plimsols while he leaned against the counter, talking with Julian while Rose sat beside him.

"You're cured!" Gwen said, walking over to the Doctor.

"Yup, back to my old gorgeous self," the Doctor said.

"And his ego's returned as well," Rose muttered.

The Doctor chuckled at that and accepted a hug from Gwen. She told them what was going on and the Doctor leaned up off the counter.

"Let me go with you," he said. "I want to make sure Jack comes out of this in one piece."

"Me too," Rose said.

"It'll be dangerous," Gwen said. "I don't think the military's gotten to the hive yet. They're too busy spraying the country."

"If Jack gets in trouble, I can provide a diversion. I'm sure the Queen still wants me," the Doctor said.

"No, wait," Rose said, grabbing his arm. "What if you get stung again?"

"I won't let that happen and even if it does, we have the antidote."

"Yeah, but she might sting to kill this time," Gwen said.

"I can regenerate," the Doctor said with a shrug. "Not that I want to, mind, but I have a safety net if I do die. Julian, pleasure working with you," he said, shaking the scientist's hand.

"Pleasure was all mine. Not often you meet a space alien and work with him to save the world," Julian replied.

"Well, welcome to the wonderful world of Earth saving, I've done it too many times to count," the Doctor replied. "So, Gwen, are we ready to head out then?"

"Follow me," she said.

The Queen raised her head. She suddenly had a flicker of a new mind emerging in her consciousness. She searched the memories and her wings buzzed excitedly when she realized that not only was he a friend of the Doctor but he was also an alien and better yet, immortal.

_Perhaps this one will be a better mate for me than the Doctor,_ she thought to herself. _Especially if I can pass on the immortality to my children. _

She searched more of his memories and realized he was with Torchwood. He summoned ten of her workers and ordered them to fly back to Torchwood in order to take Jack alive and bring him to her. The ten wasps flew off and the Queen settled back onto her rock, feeling hopeful that not all was lost.

"God, I look like shit," Jack murmured as he sat in the back seat of the SUV.

Rose and the Doctor were sitting beside him. Gwen drove while Ianto sat beside her. They had borrowed several gas canisters from the military. Some of them were in a rucksack that Jack was going to take into the hive and the rest were on the floor at Gwen's feet in case the car was attacked. Jack turned his bleary eyes to the Doctor who gave him a smug smile.

"Shut up," Jack said while the Doctor sniggered. "Don't you even run your mouth about being back to normal again or I'll sting your ass to Kingdom Come."

"Wouldn't think of pointing out I'm back to normal now, Jack," the Doctor said with a shrug. "But you're right, you do look like shit."

"Fuck you," Jack said, rolling his eyes when the Doctor sniggered.

The Doctor patted his friend on the shoulder and looked out the side window when Rose did the same. They could see a couple of helicopters flying back towards Cardiff. They saw one of them let loose some of the gas. The gas spread out and slowly fell towards the ground in a large grey cloud.

"Good job that works, less work for us," Rose said to the Doctor.

"Yes, my brilliant brain amazes even me some times," the Doctor said.

"I thought when that happened the world would explode," Jack muttered while Rose giggled.

"What d'ya mean?" the Doctor said to him.

"I thought the moment something from your brain amazed you the world would explode," Jack said.

The Doctor thought that over while Rose snickered.

"No, I don't recall hearing that would happen," the Doctor said. "Where'd you hear it?"

"Never mind, Mister Smart Ass," Jack said, waving a black hand at him.

"I'm not being a smart ass; I'm just stating a fact. I've been amazed many times and the world's still here."

"Whatever, forget I said anything," Jack said while Rose laughed silently.

The Doctor shrugged and looked out the window while Jack rolled his eyes.

"Okay, here we are," Gwen said as she slowed to stop. "Across the field is her hive."

Jack opened the door and got out. Gwen did the same, carrying the rucksack. She handed it to Jack and put her hand against his yellow cheek.

"You come back to us, yeah?" Gwen said. "Don't let that bitch anywhere near you."

"I'm not planning on it. I want to make this in and out because I want to be myself again in the worse way."

He smiled when Gwen kissed his cheek. Ianto got out of the car and Gwen stepped asked when he walked up to Jack.

"Be careful," he said to Jack.

"You do the same. The last thing I want is a wasp for a boyfriend," Jack said.

He felt Ianto's face with his feelers and gave him a hug. Once he was finished, he looked inside the car at the Doctor and Rose.

"Smart ass comments, better say them now," he said to the Doctor.

"Why do you keep thinking I'm being a smart ass? I was just stating a fact," the Doctor said while Rose giggled. "The world hasn't exploded whenever I've been amazed."

"Yeah, okay, just wish me luck, alright?" Jack said.

"Good luck, Jack," the Doctor said. "I would say don't die but…well…be careful."

"Ha ha," Jack said while Rose laughed harder. "And you, Blondie, why you wanna be his girlfriend is beyond me when you have me around but to each his own I guess."

The Doctor snorted at that while Rose leaned over. Jack leaned in and she kissed his cheek and wished him luck. He leaned back out of the car and sighed as the Doctor shut the door and Gwen and Ianto got back in the car.

"I would give anything to know what my horoscope said today," he said as he spread his wings out.

He tested them, found he could fly and gripping the rucksack tightly by the handle headed towards the cave.


	37. Chapter 37

Chapter Thirty Seven

"So now we wait, I s'pose," Rose said as she sat in the car and stared at the woods across the field. "Wait and see if a huge swarm of those wasps come after us."

"Hopefully they won't if Jack's done his job," Gwen said as she relaxed in the driver's seat. "We don't have that many gas bombs and we can't fight off a million wasps."

"I'm on the edge of glory and I'm hanging on a moment of truth. I'm on the edge of glory and I'm hanging on a moment with you."

Rose turned her head when she heard the Doctor singing softly to himself. She listened but she couldn't identify the song.

"Hey, what is that you're singing?" she finally asked.

"Edge of Glory by Lady Gaga," the Doctor said. "I'm bored so I'm entertaining myself."

"Lady Gaga?" Gwen said, looking at Ianto who shrugged. "Who's that?"

"A singer who'll be famous in a few years," the Doctor said. "Edge of Glory is one of my favorite songs."

"Sing a bit more of it," Rose said.

"The Doctor resumed his singing while they listened.

"Not bad, it's catchy," Ianto said. "When does that song come out?"

"2011," the Doctor said.

"Really?" Rose said. "Got any more songs from the future?"

"Don't stop, make it pop, DJ blow my speakers up, tonight I'ma fight till we see the sunlight, tick tock on the clock but the party don't stop, no. Whoa-a-a-oh, whoa-a-a-oh."

"And who's that?" Gwen said.

"Tik Tok by Keisha, 2010," the Doctor said.

"Okay…" Rose said. "Sing a song from the year…4346."

The Doctor thought for a moment before he let out a shriek like a banshee that startled everyone. Then he quickly sung…

"Bamba bamba bamba-oh. Nonga natra dotra do. Bamba bamba bamba oh, wonk, wonk, wonk, wonk, wonk!"

"What are you doing?" Ianto said.

"I'm singing a song from 4346 as requested. That's Bamba-oh from the Venusian band Datra Datura. It reached the top of the charts that year."

"Ugh, sounds like the human race's musical tastes take a severe nosedive then," Rose said, making a face. "Sorry I asked."

"So, fancy hearing a song from another year? How about the year 10,125? There was Snarkity Snark by the Zebos from Astrodad Seventeen" the Doctor said.

"No, that's okay," Rose said. "You go back to entertaining yourself and sing whatever you want.

"Suit yourself. Judas, Juda-a-as, Judas, Gaga!"

He sang to himself while Rose, Gwen and Ianto listened and continued keeping an eye on the forest.

Meanwhile, Jack had managed to slip inside the cave and was crouching down beside the entrance while he zipped open the rucksack. He winced at the pain from his mutating body and cursed softly as the pain intensified for a few minutes before it subsided back to a dull throbbing.

"I'll be so glad when I get out and get back to that antidote," Jack muttered while he pulled out one of the canisters. "So…I guess I'll throw this near the entrance and take down anyone patrolling there and work my way inside to the Queen."

_Welcome._

Jack froze when he heard a soft voice echoing in his mind. For a moment, he thought he was imagining it and he slowly made his way towards the center of the cave.

_What are you doing? _

Jack froze again when he heard the voice. This time it was more distinct and he couldn't write it off as just one of his thoughts. It was also female. He thought for a moment and then tried to telepathically contact the person.

_Who is this?_ He thought back.

_I am the queen of the wasps and you will soon be my slave._

Jack snorted.

"Guess again, bitch," he muttered to himself as he resumed his slow walk towards the Queen's throne room.

Meanwhile, the occupants in the car were still keeping watch. The Doctor had stopped singing and was slumped down in his seat, his eyes closed while he meditated.

"Think Jack made it inside?" Ianto said to Gwen.

"Hope so," Gwen said. "Blast, I wish there was a way we could contact him and make sure he's safe."

"Well," the Doctor said, opening his eyes a crack, "you could always try bee-mail."

Rose chuckled when Gwen and Ianto shifted in their seats and gave him a long, hard stare.

"That was a terrible joke, mate," Gwen finally said.

"Well, you wanted to know how to contact them and wasps are similar to bees so maybe they use bee-mail," the Doctor said, staring at them though half closed eyes. "Just using logic."

"Yeah, maybe you should go back to singing," Gwen said while Rose giggled.

The Doctor looked at Rose.

"Just saying, bees might use bee-mail instead of e-mail," he said.

"Yeah, Doctor, I get the joke," Rose said. "You don't need to explain it."

"Just saying, they probably use bee-mail, is all," the Doctor said, turning his head back and closing his eyes. "Or…they could use bee-pers."

Rose laughed when Gwen and Ianto groaned at that.

"You're right, the singing was far more tolerable," Ianto said to Gwen while the Doctor sniggered.

Owen breathed a sigh of relief as he left the cells. They had given the antidote to the wasps they had captured and all of them were returning to normal. He reached the main room and saw Tosh sitting on the sofa while she chatted with Julian. She looked at Owen when he walked up to them.

"How are they?" she asked.

"They're returning to normal and from what I've seen of the antidote's effects, there will be no side effects."

"Good," Tosh said. "I'm glad we got this mess sorted out. Wouldn't fancy living on a planet of wasps."

"Or becoming one," Julian added.

Suddenly the klaxon went off and Owen threw his hands up in the hair.

"I'm about to tear that bleedin' thing out of the wall," he said. "Now what?"

"Dunno," Tosh said. "But I'm betting our friends are back from the hive for another go at the door."

"I swear to God, if they bust that door down, I'm gonna take the money for repairs out of their black and yellow hides," Owen said as he and Tosh ran to get more of the gas canisters.


	38. Chapter 38

Chapter Thirty Eight

Jack inched along the cave wall trying to shut out the Queen's telepathic summons to come to her.

"Oh, I'll come to you alright, bitch, and you won't like it when I get there," Jack muttered to himself as he kept going.

So far he hadn't seen any wasps, although he heard the buzzing in the distance. He figured the Queen was gathering her forces around her for protection. He reached another opening in the cave and saw five wasps flying around tending to a few honeycombs. He looked down at the canister in his hand.

"Gotta time this right," he muttered to himself. "I can't get trapped in the smoke and mutate back, not until I'm outta here."

He winced at another sudden flare up of pain.

"Although I'm sorely tempted to go ahead and do it," he grunted through the pain.

He pressed himself back against the wall when two wasps suddenly zoomed past him on their way out of the cave.

"Shit, hope they're not going to attack the car," Jack muttered.

He looked through the opening and made a quick count, confirming that the five wasps were still in the room. He stood up and readied his wings. Then he pulled the pen on the canister and snatching up the rucksack, flew as fast as he could past the gas that was rapidly filling the room. On the way out of the room, he quickly took out another canister and threw it near the opening, stopping the wasps who were trying to follow him out.

Meanwhile, Gwen and the others were sitting in the SUV waiting for word from Jack when suddenly Ianto grabbed her shirt sleeve. He pointed to the woods seconds before they heard the buzzing. Gwen cursed and she and Ianto grabbed the canisters and passed them to the Doctor and Rose.

"What do we do? Do we stay in the car?" Rose asked them.

"I think we should get out. Those things can trap us in here and bash the car till it rolls onto its side or puncture the roof of the SUV. It'd be a death trap in here," Gwen said.

Everyone quickly got out. Ianto pulled a plug on one of his canisters and threw it towards the wasps while the others got behind the car with canisters in hand. The Doctor threw his canister towards the back of the car and Gwen threw hers to the front. Rose threw hers behind so they were surrounded by smoke. The only problem was the wind made the smoke drift in on them, making it hard to see but they could hear the frustrated buzzing of the wasps while they tried to get through the dense smoke. Gwen breathed a sigh of relief when Ianto rounded the front of the car and knelt down beside her.

"We need to do something else, that's not gonna hold them forever," Ianto said, waving some of the smoke away from his face.

"We need to incapacitate them somehow so we can surround them with the smoke," the Doctor said. "They're not going to enter the gas on their own."

"We don't have that many canisters," Gwen said, "we gave the majority of them to Jack. What we need is something to knock them out with like a large tree limb or a heavy rock."

"Or a giant flyswatter," Rose said as the angry buzzing got louder. "They're sore, you can tell that much, I doubt they're going to let us live if they start stinging us."

Gwen suddenly had a thought and reached into her jacket pocket for her mobile.

"What are you doing?" Ianto asked.

"Calling Andy so he'll try to get hold of the head of the army and tell them to bring their helicopters to this location," she said, speed dialing Andy's number.

"I really hate working here sometimes," Owen said as he knelt behind the table with Tosh and Julian.

They were across from the front door again while the wasps tried to batter it down. Owen shook his head at the loud bangs coming from the wasps hitting the door.

"You'd think they'd learn hitting the door doesn't work," Owen said.

"I don't think they have any control over that," Tosh said. "I think they do whatever the Queen wants them to, regardless of if they live or die. We could try opening the door and tossing one of the canisters out."

"Be my guest, love, I'm not letting one of those bloody wasps in the door," Owen said.

They jerked their heads around when they saw Julian grab one of the canisters and head for the door.

"Wait!" Tosh said, standing up. "Julian, you don't have to do that."

"We can't sit here and wait till they break down the door," he said. "I'll do it. I'm not afraid of those beasts."

Owen and Tosh stood and watched while Julian went to the door. Julian waited till the bangs let out for a few seconds and then to Owen and Tosh's horror, he opened the door, ran outside and slammed it.

"Bloody hell, I didn't think he was going out with the canister," Owen said as he and Tosh ran to the door.

Owen locked the door and both of them stood by the door listening to the angry buzzing outside. Then the buzzing stopped and Owen looked at Gwen before opening the door again. Gas immediately came in though the open door and Owen and Gwen coughed as they waved it out of their faces.

"Julian? Are you alright?" Tosh said, stepping out into the thick smoke as she tried to find her friend. "Are you there?"

She gasped when a hand grabbed her from behind and she saw her friend's face through the smoke.

"Yeah, I managed to scare them off," Julian said, between coughs as he and Tosh went back inside. "I don't think I got any, I'm afraid, just scared them away from here."

"Maybe that'll be enough," Owen said as he closed the door and locked it. "Hopefully, the helicopters are still patrolling Cardiff and spot them before they can fly back to the hive."

"The Queen must have found out about Jack and sent them here," Tosh said as they went into the other room to escape the residual gas. "Hope he's alright."

"He'll be fine, Tosh," Owen said. "He's immortal and we have the antidote so no matter what happens, he'll make it out of there alright."

"But what if he doesn't make it out of there?" Tosh pointed out. "What if he gets captured."

"Blimey, Tosh, you love looking at the glass half empty, don't ya?" Owen said, rolling his eyes as they entered the main room of the Hub.


	39. Chapter 39

Chapter Thirty Nine

Jack cursed when the gas near the cave opening began to dissipate. He could hear the angry buzzing increasing as the wasps fought to get past what little smoke remained. He decided to try to lure the wasps away, lose them somewhere and then fly back to the cave.

"Come on, guys, come and get me!" Jack said before he flew up into the sky.

From his vantage point, he could see the wasps around the SUV and noticed that the gas there was slowly fading. He turned slightly and saw the wasps heading out of the cave towards him. He turned back and noticed helicopters in the distance. They were heading for the SUV and Jack smiled.

"Like I said, follow me everyone!" he said as he flew towards the SUV.

He zoomed past the wasps menacing the SUV and heard his friends shouting warnings to him. He heard the buzzing increase behind him and knew the wasps by the car were following him now. He changed direction and headed for the helicopters.

"What's he doing?" Gwen said while she and her friends watched Jack.

"He's luring all the wasps away towards the helicopters. Look," Ianto said, pointing towards the helicopters in the distance.

"Is he gonna make it? He's got about ten wasps behind him," Gwen said.

"There's more than that. Look," The Doctor said, pointing towards the woods.

Gwen groaned when five more wasps flew out of the forest in pursuit of Jack.

"They seem sure of where they're goin'," Rose said. "You think the Queen is telling them where to go?"

"Probably," the Doctor said. "She's probably still tracking Jack's mind and knows where he's going. Let's just hope she hasn't sussed out his plan before he makes it to the helicopters."

They flinched when the helicopters opened fire on the swarm and Jack and the wasps scattered. There were four helicopters and they broke off in different directions, pursuing the panicking wasps while some flew off towards the woods and a few tried to attack. They could see Jack turning around and heading back towards them. He zoomed towards them and stopped just short of the car.

"Are you alright?" he asked as he dropped down a bit.

"Yeah," Gwen said, "just glad you didn't get hit when they opened fire."

"Nah, I'm too clever for that," Jack said. "But enough talk, I'm hoping the hive is deserted or mostly deserted and I can deal with the Queen by myself. I'll see you when I'm finished."

"Be careful, Jack!" Rose yelled.

Jack caught a gas canister that she threw to him, waved to her and quickly flew off. They turned their attention back to the helicopters and noticed that a few wasps had been hit with gas and were now dropping to the ground, incapacitated.

"Good, I'm glad they're not shooting them on sight," the Doctor said. "They're innocents, under the Queen's control. They don't deserve to die."

They noticed a few of the wasps were heading back towards them. The Doctor grabbed a gas canister and everyone ducked except him. He waited until the wasp was nearly to him before he pulled the pin and threw it as hard as he could. It hit the was in the face and the force of the blow caused it to jerk away in shock. Rose grabbed a nearby rock and lobbed it at the stunned wasp. She yelled in triumph when it hit the wasp's side and the wasp began to flounder. The Doctor picked up another rock and aimed it at the wasp's head. He threw it as hard as he could and this time the force of the blow to the wasp's face was enough to bring it down. Ianto ran over as the wasp was recovering, snatched up the canister and threw it near the wasp. It landed near its abdomen and the wasp was covered in the smoke while it buzzed with fear and confusion. Then thirty seconds later, the buzzing stopped and the wasp stilled as it became unconscious.

Meanwhile, Jack had entered the cave entrance. He dropped to the ground and stilled his wings. He winced when he felt another stab of pain from the metamorphosis and he knew he didn't have much time left. There were a few wisps of gas still lingering in the air and he maneuvered around them just in case they had any effect on him.

_Do you honestly think you can defeat me_? The Queen thought to him as he slowly made his way to the throne room. _Your mind will belong to me in a few minutes and then I'll send you out to attack your friends._

"Well, then I better speed this up," Jack muttered as he walked faster.

He reached the throne room and saw the Queen sitting on her rock dais, calmly staring at him. He looked around and saw no other wasps.

"Isn't that a bit foolish, sending all the troops out and keeping none for defense?" he said to the Queen as he stepped inside the room.

_I don't need my children to defeat you,_ the Queen thought to him. _I nearly have your mind in my control now. Your gas cannot harm me. Don't resist me, Jack Harkness. Resistance is useless._

Jack groaned when she tried to increase her hold on his mind. He felt her consciousness battling his own, threatening to overtake him completely. He took a step towards her but it took all his effort just to do that. The Queen noticed him reaching for the pin on the canister and increased her attack. Jack yelled in frustration as her mind began to crowd out his own and he felt himself dropping to his knees as the voice in his head urged him over and over to obey and become one with her.

Then suddenly, the Doctor rushed into the room. The Queen buzzed in surprise and her hold on Jack's mind lessened. Before she could react the Doctor ran to Jack, grabbed the canister, pulled the pin and threw it on the dais. The Queen buzzed in alarm as the gas began to surround her and she threw up to escape it. But Jack had regained his mind and he whipped out his gun and quickly aimed, shooting her in the fleshy part of her abdomen. The Queen jerked in pain from the impact of the bullet and Jack shot again in nearly the same place. The Queen dropped back down to the dais and Jack stood up while the gas enveloped her body. While they stood and watched, Jack felt the Queen's consciousness lessen and grow dim and then finally there was nothing. They stood there until the gas began to dissipate and they saw the Queen lying dead on her dais.

"Aren't you going to lecture me on shooting her?" Jack said to the Doctor, putting his gun back in the holster.

"Normally I would but there was no other choice. She wouldn't stop what she was doing and she was threatening the entire planet. She wouldn't agree to go so we had to do what we had to. Now hopefully the remainder of the humans she turned into wasps will be helped andBritaincan go back to normal."

"Well, normal as it ever will be," Jack said, patting him on the back. "Come on, buddy, let's go tell the others she's dead so UNIT can come in and retrieve her."

"Fine by me. I need a rest anyway. Ran the whole way and my legs are burning. Consider yourself lucky that I'm a champion sprinter," the Doctor said.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I could have taken her on without your help," Jack teased as the two men headed back towards the entrance.


	40. Chapter 40

Chapter Forty

"Ah, finally I'm going back to normal," Jack sighed after the antidote started to take effect and the mutation began to reverse.

"That might not be a good thing," Owen said as he stood by him. "Maybe it's better if you stayed a wasp."

"Shut up, Owen. I still have my stinger," Jack said, eyeing him.

Everyone was back at the Hub, resting and watching over Jack while he recovered. They had the television on and to their relief, the newsreader was reporting that the wasps were turning back into humans and everything was quieting down all acrossBritain. Jack glanced at the television and then looked at the Doctor.

"So…this means you and Blondie are making a…beeline…for the stars again."

Rose giggled when the Doctor gave Jack a withering look.

"Sorry, couldn't resist the bad pun," Jack said.

"Yes. Rose and I will return to the TARDIS and go on to new adventures," the Doctor said.

"I knew it. You two are just busy little bees, aren't ya?" Jack said.

The Doctor rolled his eyes when Jack sniggered at that.

"I hope you realize that bees and wasps are two different species so your puns aren't all that clever," the Doctor said to him.

"Okay, how about you always created quite a…buzz whenever you're around," Jack said.

"And…I think that's our cue to get going. Right, Rose?" the Doctor said, turning to her.

"Yup. We gotta get back to the TARDIS. It's such a hive of activity," Rose said.

"Ugh, that's even worse than Jack's puns," the Doctor said while Jack laughed. "Anyway, Doctor Brown, pleasure working with ya."

"And you. I've never met anyone like you and I'm sorry you have to leave but I'll always treasure our time together," Julian said, shaking his hand.

"So will I. I'm glad we were able to save the world. I wish you luck."

Rose shook his hand and bid him goodbye. The Doctor and Rose did the same to the others and when Rose got to Jack, he embraced her warmly.

"Don't be a stranger," he said. "Make him come back often so I can see ya. By the time you come back, I should be back to normal."

"As normal as you can get," Rose teased.

"True but at least in my normal form I won't be pokin' ya in the eye with my antenna."

He gave her a kiss on the cheek and everyone walked them to the door. The Doctor and Rose bid everyone goodbye one last time before they left the Hub.

"So…" the Doctor said as they walked away from the Hub, "where do you wanna go next?"

"Planet of the spiders," Rose said.

She laughed when he gave her a withering look.

"No?" Rose said innocently. "How 'bout planet of the dragonflies then? We can ride those."

"Rose, be quiet."

"Planet of the slugs? Planet of the fleas? Planet of the bedbugs?"

"How about planet of the volcanoes and I drop you directly into one and go look for a new companion?"

Rose grinned when the Doctor whistled innocently. He ducked when Rose tried to smack his face and got a gleeful look on his face when Rose dashed away.

"How about planet of the…dust mites?" she yelled back and then squealed with delight when the Doctor began to chase her back towards the TARDIS.

THE END.


End file.
